Foliage has become a more important flower in bouquets and over the years seems to have increased sharply. So, when looking at the foliage produced in Colombia, how did the demand develop over the last year? According to the statistics of Colombian export association Asocolflores, it is following the trend. In the time recorded, from January - August 2019, both in volume (+15.2%) and value (+12.4%), exports increased significantly when comparing with the same period the year before. In total, in this period, the exports from Colombia are 9.4 million USD and 1.792 tons.
Major destinations - US still nr 1
The major destinations for the Colombian foliage are the US (accounting for 56.6% of the total value - which is 7.6% higher compared to same period 2018 - and 49.1 percent of the total volumes - 0.1% higher compared to same period last year), Ecuador, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, UAE, Australia, Curacao and Trinidad & Tobago. Most of the countries reported an increase in exports (particularly in volume), but the clear outliers in this range are Trinidad & Tobago and Ecuador. In both volume and value, Trinidad & Tobago increased over 100% when comparing the period of January-August 2019 with January-August 2018. Exports to Ecuador increased by 55.3% in volume and 75% in value.
Important months
When looking at the monthly export statistics from January till August, it becomes clear that May is the most important month regarding value and February the most important month regarding volume (closely followed by May). August is usually the month with the lowest numbers in both value and volume.
Mode of transport
The majority of the foliage is shipped by air (accounting for 78.4% in value and 64% in volume of the total transport modes), followed by sea and ground transport. When comparing the numbers with the same period of 2018, we see a significant increase in volumes transported by sea (+59.2%) followed by volumes by ground transport (+29%) and value transported by ground (22.8%).
Where do they come from?
The exports from Colombia are 9.4 million USD and 1.792 tons, from January till August 2019, but which part of the country did the majority of the flowers come from? According to the statistics, Antoquia accounts for 51.4% of the export value and increased 2.2% compared to the same period last year. However, the tons decreased by 4.7 percent and currently accounts for 42.9%, just under the amount of tons that are being exported out of Cundinamarca, which accounts for 44.3% (an increase of 19.6%). Also, the value of exports out of Cundinamarca increased sharply, by 25.6%, and currently accounts for 47.4% of the total value exported out of Colombia.
Source: Asocolflores