Exports of Indian roses picks up ahead of Valentine's Day
Last year, Valentine’s Day fell on a weekend, damping exports. "Since it was a Sunday last year, demand went down. While the cost per stem remains the same as last year, the volumes are much higher. Last year was the worst year for Valentine’s Day exports,” Yogesh N, partner at Red Blossom told the Business Standard. The company expects exports to increase six times to 300,000 stems this year.
And they did not only experienced lower exports during Valentine's Day the beginning of the year, but also at the end of 2016, which used to be beneficial months for Indian growers and traders. Shivaji Begade, Chairman of Pune District Flower Association, told The Indian express that exports had gone down 30 per cent during November and December. "But they are picking up now."
In 2015, India had exported 16.5 million stems during this season, whereas the figure came down to 14 million flower stems in 2016. This year, flower markets are aiming to cross 16 million flower stems.
India’s major export shipments for Valentine’s Day head to UK, which shares 35 per cent of the Indian exports, followed by 19 per cent in Japan, 18 per cent in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Holland.
However, there is not only a large demand for Indian flowers in these export countries mentioned above, also the domestic demand is increasing. “While exports remain a key motivator for cultivators, the domestic demand for flowers is also increasing exponentially, especially in the metros and larger cities. Modernisation and growing western cultural influences has driven consumers to buy flowers on a number of occasions, such as Valentine’s Day, marriages, anniversaries, birthdays, friendship day, mother’s day, etc,” says Praveen Sharma, President of ISFP, Pune.
More than five million rose stems are expected to be exported this year between February 4 and February 14.
Exporters began shipping rose stems to Europe, West Asia and Australia a week ahead of Valentine’s Day and will send more this week. Friday is the last day for Valentine’s Day export shipments.
And due to the increased domestic demand, the rose prices will be about 30 percent higher then last year, reports avenuemail.in