Colombian growers affected by continuous rains

For three months now, Colombian growers have been dealing with cold temperatures and continuous rains. Consequently, the production dropped and the prices increased. However, now, the situation seems to have returned back to normal in the carnations and some roses. "The production is starting to increase again and the prices are stabilizing", says Natalia Franco, Sales and Marketing Director at Flores Aurora, a Colombian flower grower whose production was also affected by the weather conditions.

Natalia Franco at the Flowers Expo in Moscow, Russia.

Decreased production
The continuous rains caused a high level of humidity in the greenhouses. "Due to this high level of humidity, diseases occurred and we therefore had to prune some of their rose plants. Therefore, the production was about 20 percent lower compared to last year", she says. "Carnations and spray carnations were affected too with longer periods for production, so the flowers that we were expecting for the last 3-4 weeks are in production just now."

Higher prices
As a result of the decrease in production at many Colombian farms, the rose, carnation and spray carnation prices increased. "Usually, during the summer season, the demand is lower and therefore the prices too. However, this year, there were less flowers on the market which resulted in a price increase. We can see that the prices of this year are about 20-30 percent higher compared to last year."

The farm of Flores Aurora is located in the Sabana of Bogotá. Besides roses, they also grow carnations and spray carnations. "We have 33 planted hectares, 10ha is used for the rose cultivation, 16ha for carnation and 7ha for mini carnations."

Back to normal
According to Franco, the situation is now starting to return back to normal in carnations as the expected production is now coming. However, the weather conditions are still the same, so for most of the rose varieties cultivation is still challenging.

Update assortment
A year ago, Flores Aurora decided to update their rose assortment with new varieties, which will also serve different markets. "We used to grow roses with a stem length of 40-50 cm for the mass market. Now we have varieties that grow 60-70 cm stems with thicker stems and larger head sizes that are being sold to wholesalers. We made this decision as we expect to receive about 10-20 percent higher prices for these roses compared to our previous varieties." The main markets of Flores Aurora are the USA, Japan, UK, Spain, Russia and a little is going to Poland.

For more information:
Flores Aurora
Natalia Franco
Email: nataliafranco@floresaurora.com
www.floresaurora.com