Directors and employees of three major bulb importers from Yunnan province, China, have been arrested by the authorities for non-payment of VAT. That's what Anthos reports based on information from some of their members.
What exactly is going on is unclear, except that the Dutch embassy confirms the above. The embassy will investigate the matter and hopes to give more clarity to the situation as soon as possible.
Yunnan is an important province for importing bulbs to China. Currently, there is a lot of activity in this trade, according to a spokesman from Anthos. Figures are not available and estimates will not be forthcoming, but presumably it concerns dozens of containers.
The present whereabouts and what will happen to the containers is also unclear. Anthos checks the possibilities of ‘re-routing’ the shipments or looking for (financial) solutions. That is about all that can be done: after all it is a criminal case in a foreign country, furthermore there is little insight into the matter itself.
China is a big (and growing) buyer of bulbs. The global trade in bulbs is dominated by a handful of Dutch parties. The containers come from the Netherlands, and also from South America and Oceania.
Source: Agroberichten Buitenland