NL: What do they actually fetch, those tulips?

Every year, Flynth advisers and accountants register the yields of tulips for participating flower bulb companies. Both the type cultivar as well as the technical cultivation results are determined. The yields are recorded in value (€) and in numbers per RR (Real Reality) and compared with each other. Also the alteration in the assortment is taken into account. After all, expansion or contraction of the assortment influences the financial return.

Based on the observations of Flynth, it appears that the cultivation season 2016/2017 has been a good year again. The observations come from all the cultivation areas of the Netherlands. Despite the fact that many companies were confronted with setbacks - such as water damage and acid - the yields per RR did increase. The tulip statistics show that the tulip acreage has passed 12,500 hectares (Source BKD). 

The average yield of all observations (excluding assortment alterations) is € 45.20 per RR. The number of delivered tulips per RR amounts to 753 pieces for all observations. In approximately three-quarters of the observations, the revenue per RR was above € 40. It is also striking that at 23 cultivars the acreage amounts to more than 100 hectares. Hans Tesselaar, business consultant at Flynth: "In total, these 23 cultivars make up more than 40% of the total acreage. In addition, these cultivars are good for an above-average yield. The existing assortment still generates above-average yields per RR."

It is remarkable that Strong Gold has been the largest cultivar by far since 2010. In 2017, Flynth recorded 18 individual observations and a total area of more than 90 ha (62,928 RR). The average yield of this cultivar is € 58,23 per RR excluding assortment alterations. It is also striking that at 33 different cultivars the sold numbers sometimes exceeded 900 pieces per RR.

Hans indicates that the share of new cultivars in the observations remain limited. "Established cultivars still remain to make up the majority of the acreage of tulips. Despite the fact that many new tulips are released every year, apparently (too) many new tulips quickly disappear again from the market or their influence remains (too) limited. "The average selling price for all observations in the 2016/2017 cultivation season is € 61.- per 1,000 pieces.

Approximately 4.8% of the yields is realized through planting material sales. The share of planting material sales has remained unchanged in recent years. Remarkable is that the extra planting material sales do not result in a higher RR yield, but that particularly the number of cultivated bulbs per RR contribute to the yield.

Participants have a web application at their disposal for the registration of the data. With this application the information can be entered and processed digitally. Soon the information will also be available in a clear manner via a special app for smartphones. This will give the participants faster access to up-to-date information about proceeds and results.