Jordan: Cut flower sector goes 'from bloom to bust'

Rows of red rose bushes, pink carnations and white Lilies stretch out for seemingly ever in huge symmetrical greenhouses. It feels like one could be standing in one of Holland’s mega flower farms, but it is actually in the Jordan Valley, as the Kingdom is now one of the region’s biggest producers of cut flowers.

Around 70 farms produce over 70 million cut flowers annually. Year-on-year sales have been growing steadily by 10 percent over the past five years, according to Mazen Ghalayini, the head of Amman’s Flower Stock Market, the first of its kind in the Arab world. “The industry is also able to meet local demand,” added Ghalayini, “saving the country over $15 million in foreign currency that was used to import flowers before.”

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the country today is not only self-sufficient in terms of flower production, but is also exporting regionally to markets including the Gulf and Lebanon, and internationally to countries like the UK, Germany, France, and ironically, even Holland.

“Production varies throughout the year, reaching a peak in the spring while its lowest level is during the winter, excluding the time around Valentine’s Day in February and Mother’s Day in March,” said Ghalayini. The increase in supply has also resulted in an increase in demand and consumption in the local market.

Read more at Venture (Celine Alkhaldi)