“China is such an interesting market for us, because it has a large, growing population and economic power”, says Valeria Lobato Jarrín of Florpaxi, an Ecuadorian rose farm. “It is a market that is still relatively new for Ecuadorian roses and trading with this country offers us an opportunity to expand in a new and a non-traditional market.”
The team of Florpaxi at Expo Flor Ecuador 2018.
Local production – main challenge
In 2017 Florpaxi expanded their farm Flores del Cotopaxi, in the south of Ecuador from 9 ha to 14 ha. Now they have more space to grow roses and can better focus on fulfilling the market’s demands, including the Chinese.
Building up relations in this country, however, has been a challenge. “There is a language barrier, time difference, and several other factors, but we like to seek this challenge. The main challenge is the local production of Chinese roses. Their volume is very large and the prices are extremely low compared to Ecuadorian imported roses. But the Chinese roses are smaller than the Ecuadorian ones. The Chinese market does demand varieties of big head size (around 6 cm and above). This advantage also benefits Ecuador when comparing the product with that of other countries China imports from.”
Diversification
The common varieties Florpaxi exports to China are: Freedom, Pink Floyd, Sweetness, Boulevard, Polar Star, Hermosa, Explorer, Esperance. They also supply tinted and painted roses like Mondial and Pink Mondial. “At the moment, we are looking to further expand not only in volume and consistency but into diversifying the varieties and length sizes purchased by our clients. A few years ago, the same varieties were always purchased and in 70 cm. However, at the moment we have been able to send other lengths and a greater diversity of varieties.”
N
ew varieties and new packaging
It has been a busy year for Florpaxi in terms of re-branding and they continue to develop. “Currently we have 91 varieties in production and by the end of 2018 we count on closing the year with 96 varieties. In addition, we have grown fillers for the past year. And we aim to be producing and using our own farm-grown fillers in the near future. We also just began with our new packaging, focused on improving our customers’ experience and also using more ecologically friendly material.”
For more information
Florpaxi
Valeria Lobato Jarrín
Email: info@florpaxi.com
www.florpaxi.com