A group of Dutch growers and a number of traders from the chrysanthemum sector met last week at Koppert Cress for an evaluation of a research trip to Guatemala that took place in September last year. This trip, organized by Ideavelop and Dümmen Orange, was also due to visit a number of trade companies in Miami, but this was prevented by hurricane Irma. Becky Roberts, director of Floral at the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), had prepared an insight into the American market, but this was also cancelled. Now she has come to the Netherlands and it is time for a redo.
Becky Roberts, director Floral PMA
The PMA is a trade organisation that represents the interests of floriculture and other fresh producers in North America. In floriculture, says Roberts, a 31.3 billion USD turnover was realized over last year. 46% of this was outdoor, 35% cut flowers and 20% in the segment (tropical) (blooming) indoor plants. The total turnover grew in 2017 by 4% compared to the year before, and the number of domestic producers also grew by 5%. Their own production represented a value of 4.37 billion dollars.
Stijn Baan talks about the cresses and Koppert Cress' positioning in the market
Key in doing business successfully in American floriculture is understanding retail. Roberts: "The number of florists has declined by 40% compared to 2000. The largest part of the flowers and plants by far are sold via supermarkets. Supermarkets try to define themselves in four areas: convenience, quality, price and service. The first 3, they have. There is a lot of room for improvement on the last point, and this is what they're working on. The share of supermarkets that operates 100% on self-service, is getting smaller and smaller (still 39% in 2003, 26% in 2015). This means that there are more and more in-house florists. There is also an increasing emphasis on 'special days': not just Mother's Day or Valentine's Day, but also birthdays, a graduation or prom is more often an occasion for a custom made bouquet.
What keeps the minds of the American grower community going? These are, based on Roberts' words, not primarily the desires of the consumer, but mostly an entire stack of barely understandable, international political developments. She points to the fact that there is less and less money available from the federal government for things like research and checks and the fact that lilies have risen in price considerably as various producers have switched to cannabis and it is uncertain how far this trend will continue. People are also looking sideways at the problems with labour in South America - besides floriculture they also pulled up various other industries and the competition in this area is considerable. On the other side they are looking at China. They suspect this country will become an importer or an exporter, but which one is a guess. The industry is also looking at the developments in the logistic landscape: 90% of all cut flowers still travel by air, but shipping is becoming more of an alternative. The Africans have also not been sitting still and explore these possibilities.
Fred van Olphen, founder of Bever Sport, spoke to the growers and traders about a very different branch: setting up, running and successfully building his Bever Sport.