Garden A.S. located in Turkish northwestern city Yalova is one of the biggest grower groups in the city which is one of the main production regions for cut flowers, ornamental and outdoor plants in Turkey. Garden A.S growers group is made up of more than 30 growers and speaking to the press on behalf of the growers' group, the group president Abdullah Okul talked about the concerns of the growers.
Abdullah Okul: “In the last year, we have seen an increase of prices in many production items. The price increase in electricity and natural gas was especially high. Additionally, the currency rate went up thus all the imported production items cost now more for our growers. As a result of all these developments, the production costs for our growers have increased significantly in the last year. However in order not to hurt our sales volume in what has been an already stagnant market with limited demand, we have not reflected the increase in production costs to our sales prices. As a result, our profit margins are getting smaller and we had to let go of some of our staff to keep our company afloat.
"In flower and plant production, you need to be able to plan ahead as the production process is long and cumbersome. However our market is too unpredictable and we cannot even predict a few weeks ahead, let alone a few months. The unpredictability combined with the aforementioned increases in production cost items has put a lot of pressure on our business.”
Source: Yalovamiz