New Brexit checks may delay cut flower and young plant deliveries

With roses still a firm favourite and other cut flower varieties continuing to captivate, this Valentine’s Day is expected to be as traditional as ever for those consumers in the UK who’ll be buying single stems or bouquets for their loved ones on February 14, 2024. However, this year could be markedly different for those businesses that import cut flowers, foliage, and young plants into the UK from mainland Europe.

New paperwork is required as part of the UK’s Border Target Operating Model (B-TOM), set up by the UK government after Brexit to help protect the country’s food and agricultural supply chains from disease outbreaks.

‘Medium-risk plants’ will also need phytosanitary certificate

Up until January 31, 2024, plants labelled as “high risk” ((including plants for planting and “woody plants” such as conifers) that were being imported from the EU into the UK needed to be pre-notified with the UK authorities and require a phytosanitary certificate.

However, plants now classified as “medium-risk” will also require pre-notification and a phytosanitary certificate. And from April 30, (2024), consignments of high-risk plants will be inspected at the UK’s new border control points (BCPs). Some consignments of medium-risk plants will also be subject to BCP checks.
Included in the list of medium-risk plants are five cut-flower varieties, including orchids (Orchidaceae), chrysanthemums (Dendranthema), carnations (Dianthus), Gypsophila, and Goldenrods (Solidago).

Premier florists serving the luxury market (depicted here is Neill Strain Floral Couture London) are regularly taking orders for 100 red roses, or £500 bouquets and the like.

Concerns about IPAFFS’ readiness

Matthijs Mesken, managing director of Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerijprodukten (VGB) – the Dutch Association of Wholesalers in Floricultural Products, asserts: “It’s only five types of cut-flowers, but they are in almost 80 per cent of our consignments. So that will be an enormous number of flowers being inspected in both the Netherlands and the UK.”

The association is also concerned that the new notification system – IPAFFS (Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System) is not ready to accommodate the new requirements. Mesken says: “The IPAFFS system is not ready and does not work with our suppliers’ systems – so that will cause a lot of problems. So, we are saying you [the UK] are not ready to receive our certificates in a proper manner. Therefore, we are also discussing delaying that system or making sure that it will work by April 30.”

BCP inspections could delay cut flower deliveries

VGB also fears that the BCP inspections will cause delays to cut-flower deliveries – and possibly affect the quality of the plants – because the inspections are not being carried out 24 hours a day. This, says Mesken, could result in queues at the BCPs.

At the time of going to press, it is also uncertain who will pay for the BCP inspections and how much these inspections will cost. “This is going to be the subject of a lot of discussions over the coming weeks,” says Mesken.

Wednesday – ‘The Very Best Day for Valentine’s’

Martin Hudson, co-founder and director of UK-based fresh produce and flower importer Flamingo – which supplies cut flowers to the UK’s leading retailers.

Martin Hudson, co-founder and director of UK-based fresh produce and flower importer Flamingo – which supplies cut flowers to the UK’s leading retailers – notes that Flamingo’s main supply of cut flowers is from Kenya. To that end, the new B-TOM regulations don’t significantly affect it because it does not buy products from a third party in the Netherlands. However, Hudson acknowledges the B-TOM will make it harder for cut flowers to come through the Netherlands to the UK. “The B-TOM is a challenge. However, we [as a sector] get plenty of challenges, and we’ll get through it.”

With the logistics for this amorous occasion firmly in place, Hudson is optimistic about this Valentine’s Day – describing Wednesday as a “pretty fine” day for Valentine’s Day.
Conversely, the weekend is traditionally the worst for Valentine’s Day sales because, he says, people are often too busy (or find it tricky to pop to the shops on the quiet) to buy flowers for their loved one(s).

UK florists: buy your flowers a day earlier

Caroline Marshall-Foster, editor of The Florist magazine, says that traditional florists have recently enjoyed a slight resurgence as – following the pandemic – consumers have wanted to go back to the experiential-type shop where they can enjoy “smelling the flowers”.

Caroline Marshall-Foster, the editor of The Florist magazine, adds. “Traditionally, Wednesday is the very best day for Valentine’s. For florists it means they have the weekend to prep, bring in the first consignments of flowers for the all-important cutting and conditioning process and have a good run up for sales which are always last minute. There is no reason to think that Valentine’s will not be good this year, and remember, not all flowers that are sold in the UK come through Holland.”

Marshall-Foster reveals that The Florist magazine’s response to B-TOM is to continue to give the same advice to florists that it has been offering them since the day Brexit happened, which is “always buy a day earlier. Flower quality is more than good enough, and it also avoids the risks presented by port strikes and storms!” she asserts.

Flower figures

Based on her observations and conversations with wholesalers, growers, and florists across the globe (including the UK), Marshall-Foster reports that floristry sales in 2023 were down between 5% and 20% compared to 2022. “We’ve all seen a drop since Covid. Most people I talk to say the 2023 figures are on a par with 2019, and maybe a little bit up from that. The years 2020, 2021, and, to a great extent, 2022 were not “normal” simply because we had this very weird period of false sales that was phenomenal. We were in a different place in 2023.”

The latest export statistics released by VGB and Floridata at the start of this year (2024) reflect this narrative. They showed that exports of flowers and plants to the UK increased in 2020 and in 2021. In 2022, they remained strong but were down slightly compared to 2021. And then, in 2023, they fell by 7.1 per cent – from € 1,069m in 2022 to €993m in 2023. This compares to an overall four per cent decrease in exports from the Netherlands to its key export countries.

Floridata’s manager, Wesley van den Berg, notes that, due to inflation/rising costs of living, consumers in mainland Europe and the UK have been prioritising buying basic items like food over luxury items like flowers and plants. And whilst the exact export figures for cut flowers and plants are not available (as not all traders are sharing their data), he reveals that “plants are doing better than flowers” – plants were down by three per cent and flowers down by five per cent.

As yet, there are no statistics available for 2023, but data from the UK’s Defra* reveal that the value of cut flowers imported into the UK (from the Netherlands and all over the world) in 2022 was £705m (compared to £693.5m in 2021).**

Retail trends

The latest statistics from VGB/Floridata revealed that the Netherlands’ exports to the supermarket segment remained the same as the previous year at 32.9 per cent.
However, Van den Berg highlights that the proportion of cut flowers sold in supermarkets is higher in the UK than in other export countries in the Netherlands, such as Germany and France.
Hudson says that this is a trend that he can see continuing in the UK. “Florists have been a little bit in decline, and the UK’s major supermarkets represent a large share of the cut-flower and horticulture market.”

He highlights that these large retailers have worked hard – and closely with growers – to define their quality and expectations. “And if they’ve taken a bigger share, that’s obviously leaving a smaller share for the florists.”

He adds: “You look at their [the supermarkets’] flower fixtures and, generally, the quality is very strong – as is the wide range of products they offer and the floor space they’re giving to their eye-catching displays of flowers and plants in their stores. They’re doing a good job for their shoppers.”

Hudson reports that the supermarkets experienced good growth in horticulture sales last year (2023). But Marshall-Foster says that, if anything, traditional florists have recently enjoyed a slight resurgence as – following the pandemic – consumers have wanted to go back to the experiential-type shop where they can enjoy “smelling the flowers.” She also notes that premier florists serving the luxury market are regularly taking orders for 100 red roses or £500 bouquets and the like. And Hudson notes that online sales of bouquets remain a popular choice from a gifting point of view.

Homegrown and seasonal

Colin Martin of CK Martin & Son produces 300 hectares of daffodils in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, and Scotland.

Hudson also points out how large retailers have successfully recognised the strong demand for seasonal crops such as daffodils (in early spring) and sunflowers (in summer).
Colin Martin of CK Martin & Son produces 300 hectares of daffodils in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, and Scotland. He supplies the flowers to the UK’s supermarkets Asda and Co-op from January until the third week in April. He also exports to Poland and Germany.

(Colin) Martin reports that there continues to be a “good demand” for this seasonal product in the UK. “Everyone is looking for something after Christmas to cheer them up. Daffodils are a cheap product that brightens up everyone’s day.”

According to the statistics from Defra for 2022, ornamental plants and flowers were worth £1.5 billion – a decrease of 1.5 per cent compared to 2021. However, flowers and bulbs showed a 29 per cent increase in value in 2022 to £165 million.

Furthermore, the latest figures from the UK government’s farming statistics (as published in AIPH’s International Statistics Flowers & Plants) show that 7,100ha of flowers and bulbs were grown in open fields in the UK in 2021 compared to 6,300 ha in 2020.

This article was first published in the February 2024 issue of FloraCulture International.