Less Dutch flowers to UK due to Brexit
The Dutch Flower Group (DFG) signals a decrease in sales of Dutch tulips, roses and chrysanthemums to British supermarkets and therefore puts its planned expansion of the production and processing area in the UK on hold.
Annually, the Dutch ornamental industry exports 5.57 billion euros of flowers, plants and bulb. After Germany, the UK is the largest export market for the Dutch growers and exporters, worth 900 million a year. Last month, the export to the UK decreased by 6 percent while the overall export increased by 12 percent.
DFG is one of the largest flower brokers in the world and exported 1.4 billion euro of flowers and plants - roses, tulips, chrysanthemums and mixed bouquets in particular - all over the world and 300 million to British supermarkets alone.
Other exporters notice that the British market is shrinking. The decreasing of the pound plays an important role when negotiating the ongoing contracts. "Dutch flowers became more expensive", says Rijke of Intergreen. "The British supermarkets want to maintain their selling prices, so the bouquets will become smaller or will have more greens and less flowers", says Harry Brockhoff, financial director at DFG.
DFG fears for more roadblocks, like import duty, customs rules and checks on plant diseases. "Taking the statement of Trump: "America First". If more countries decide to do this, the Netherlands will be badly affected", says Brockhoff.
Source: fd.nl