In this article you will find an update from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), who are involved in the crisis measures surrounding the Coronavirus and informs Royal FloraHolland about the impact of the virus on the export market. This update also includes information from AIPH – International Association of Horticultural Producers, who sent out a short survey to a selection of its members to give them a platform to share their specific situations. They asked if the garden centres were open and if so, how were they operating. If not, what were the alternatives for growers to sell their products?
Australia
Australian garden centres are open and able to operate and trade. The instruction for most people in Australia is to stay, work and study at home where possible, but there are exceptions for ‘essential services’. Given more people are at home, we are highlighting and promoting the importance of green life at home – gardening, in the house, on balconies, in courtyards, in home offices – and ensuring they can obtain plants from garden centres. The most important message is the physical and mental health and well-being that plants provide. The conditions applied to garden centres opening are based on the guidelines provided by the Government, with an extreme focus on health and hygiene of staff and customers and practicing social/physical distancing. There have been compulsory closures on some garden centres due to inadequate hygiene and social distancing measures. (Source: Greenlife Industry Australia)
Belgium
The police monitor border traffic intensively. It remains important to be able to prove the reason for crossing the border. This can be done by means of regular transport documents, but also by means of an employer's declaration in case of transport with an empty van or for service traffic. (Source: Agricultural Attaché Network Ministry of Agriculture, LNV, 08-04-2020)
AVBS/Boerenbond continues to insist on the opening of all garden centres in Belgium. In order to show the government that this can be done safely, Peter Van Hulle, manager of Intratuin, will open his doors for the press on Wednesday 8 April at 11 a.m.. Provided that social distancing and the necessary hygiene measures are observed, as we also see in supermarkets, garden centres can serve their customers in a safe way. (Source: AVBS, 08-04-2020)
After a sharp decline in the second half of 2019, the floriculture sector scaled up slightly from 64 to 71 points in terms of the index line: 44% of those questioned foresaw a future fall in prices, while 9%, as in greenhouse vegetables, predicted a slight rise in prices; 38% of ornamental plant growers indicated that they were expecting a fall in production volume for the coming period; 24% were expecting an increase in production volume. Here, too, the authors of the report have a comment to make. Most of the responses to the survey were received before the drastic measures against the coronavirus came into force. Now that all sales outlets such as flower shops and garden centres are closed, the situation has of course become even more dramatic. (Source: BPN, 07-04-2020)
AVBS is particularly disappointed with the article that appeared on HLN entitled 'Florists want a ban on the sale of flowers and plants outside supermarkets'. AVBS argues that in these times of crisis positions should first be tested during the chain consultation within the floriculture sector that AVBS organises on a regular basis in response to the current corona crisis. Besides AVBS and KUFB, these consultations also include the Belgian Garden Centres Association (BTV), Navex and the Euro Auction. (Source: AVBS, 09-04-2020)
Three weeks ago, Dutchman Corné van den Berg was forced to switch from market to online sales of flowers and plants. With hundreds of delivery addresses, he is one of the many digital success stories in Belgium. Van den Berg says he is well aware that the digital success is probably short-lived. If the flower shops, garden centres and markets are allowed to reopen soon, we will lose a lot of trade again. Pieter Van Oost, secretary of the branch organisation for ornamental growers AVBS, is not so sure about this yet. "Many florists and growers have long thought about setting up a digital sales channel, but the crisis has speeded this up enormously. Even in the post corona era part of this will remain intact". (Source: florist's magazine, 09-04-2020)
Generally, garden centres are closed. Only garden centres that sell food, pet food and flowers or plants are open. They are not allowed to sell other products. Garden Centres with no significant food items or pet food are NOT allowed to open. Those who can open are only allowed to sell the essential products: food, pet food and flowers or plants. They need to control the number of people entering and everyone must follow hygiene measures. (Source: AVBS)
Brazil
Hortitec 2020, the largest trade fair in the ornamental and horticultural sector in South America, has been cancelled. The next edition will take place from 16 to 18 June 2021. (Source: Agricultural Attaché Network Ministry of Agriculture, LNV, 08-04-2020)
Three weeks ago, all garden centres had to close because they are not considered a necessary retail trade. Now only a few have reopened, which is less than 10 per cent of them. Some of them only do delivery. The garden centres that are open must avoid large groups of people gathering and keep on top of hygiene rules. (Source: Veiling Holambra)
Denmark
Garden centers are open in Denmark and have been open all the time during the coronavirus crisis. If you have closed rooms, the general rule is 4m2 per customer and to keep a minimum distance of 1.5 metres apart. The customers must have access to handwashing facilities. It has been working. The contamination ratio is now one in nine people are being hospitalised. This number has been decreasing for the past five days. Denmark is beginning a very slow normalisation after Easter. However, bars and restaurants remain closed until 13 May, and this summer all festivals are cancelled. (Source: Dansk Gartneri)
Ethiopia
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on Wednesday 8 April that the government of Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency. It was not immediately clear how the state of emergency will affect daily life in Ethiopia. The authorities have already taken a series of measures to combat the spread of the virus, including closing land borders and schools, banning public meetings and forcing most workers to work from home. Abiy said last weekend that a stricter lockdown would be unrealistic, since "many citizens do not have a home" and "even those who have a home have to live on a daily basis. (Source: Aljazeera, 08-04-2020)
Even though there is a sharp decline, the export of flowers still continues. Ethiopian Airlines appears to be a reliable partner and flies e.g. twice a week with flowers to Liège. The price for air freight for companies based in Ethiopia is the same as before the crisis. (Source: Agricultural Attaché Network Ministry of LNV, 08-04-2020)
Ethiopian Airlines is bracing for a half billion dollar loss of income due to the pandemic, the CEO said Tuesday. Africa's largest airline recently announced its focus on cargo and charter flights to mitigate the blow. In March alone, Ethiopian Airlines transported more than 45,848 additional tons of cargo to different parts of the world, both on cargo and passenger flights. The CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, said the company's revenues were severely affected after the suspension of 91 out of 110 passenger flights. (Source: Ethiopian Monitor, 08-04-2020)
Finland
Garden centers are allowed to be open, but the season is mainly in May to June, so many of the garden centres are not yet busy or open after winter. There have been no discussions about closing garden centres. They are largely located outside of cities and a major part of the sales activity is outdoors. There are no restrictions whatsoever, but people are paying attention and avoiding crowds and social distancing two metres apart. (Source: Kauppapuutarhalitto)
France
Flower delivery is operational again in France despite the quarantine period. Eric Ledroux, general manager of Interflora France, indicates this. The Interflora network, which is active again, initially in the Paris region, aims to expand to the rest of France. Deliveries that work thanks to voluntary delivery professionals. Interflora also notes that "the flower activity is now dominated by supermarkets", while "the period, especially now for Mother's Day, is crucial for producers". (Source: JAF-Info, 08-04-2020)
Florent Moreau President of the FFAF, the French association of florists, rings the alarm bell for the Prime Minister. The mostly independent florists are in a complex economic situation and some will have difficulty to recover. The results of the FFAF research show catastrophic figures. Worryingly, despite government support, 65% of florists will run out of cash at the end of the month to meet fixed costs and 85% of florists will be in this situation at the end of May if containment continues. The survey also shows that the impact on the profession of the hasty closure of shops was over EUR 40 million. (Source: JAF-Info, 09-04-2020)
Garden centres selling food and pet food are allowed to remain open. Food products are considered essential products. Thus, garden centres that have a pet store department have the right to sell seeds and vegetable plants which are also deemed to be essential products by the public authorities. The professional association of garden centres (FNMJ) has published a guide to guarantee the protection of customers and employees: sanitisation procedures and a reduction of open days and hours. (Source: Val'Hor)
Germany
BGI calls on the German Länder to allow sales in all flower shops in the country. The German wholesale trade is struggling with the different rules in the individual states for the sale of flowers and plants. It leads to a serious distortion of competition to the detriment of small and medium-sized retailers and the associated wholesale trade. It is important that flowers and plants can also be sold as daily fresh products through all common channels. At present, not only does each state regulate individually, but even each regulatory authority interprets the rules differently. This does not help anyone, emphasises the BGI president. (Source: trade journal for floristry, 08-04-2020)
The garden centres are mostly open in Germany. However, due to federal states legislation, not all. For example, in Bavaria they are closed; but in NRW they are open. They are considered necessary for customers, especially with fruits and vegetables. Hygiene rules and prevention, distance rules are in place to protect customers and personal; these are followed by the guidelines given in each federal state. (Source: Zentralverband Gartenbau)
Greece
Garden centers are not open, customers can only shop online. (Source: Hepexia)
Ireland
Garden centres are not currently open, but they are permitted to sell remotely and have products/plants delivered. While this is welcome, it doesn’t alleviate the pressure the growers are under. DIY chains, many of whom have a substantial garden centre offer are also closed, which has impacted greatly on the industry here. It is ironic really as there has never been as high a demand for plants and gardening supplies from the consumers. In Ireland garden centres had been originally permitted to stay open and were only closed when the stricter restrictions came into effect on 27 March. All had reported booming trade in plants and gardening supplies. (Source: Bord Bia)
Italy
National legislation does allow garden centres to open. Nevertheless, several local administrations don't do it to contain the movement of people. There are conditions of human distancing, controls on numbers entering, use of safety devices (masks, gloves, soaps). In reality, not many garden centres are opened. People can go out for a few times a day and for necessity, but mainly they go to the supermarket and there they can also find plants. After Easter, if infections go down, there will likely be more relaxation of the current directives. (Source: ANVE)
Japan
Not only garden centres but also home centres and supermarkets are open. The government says stay at home as much as possible, and only go out for daily necessities. Avoid concentration of people and make sure there is enough space from each other. Customers must make sure to keep away from high-risk contact or close contact with people. There are bottles of alcohol spray at the front of shops. (Source: Japan Landscape Contractors Association)
Netherlands
Garden centres are open. It is the responsibility of the owners to close. There must be a minimum distance (1.5 metres) between people, and if necessary, control of numbers entering. (Source: Vereniging van Bloemenveilingen)
Poland
The Polish President and the Minister of Agriculture have jointly launched a campaign calling on consumers to buy Polish products in order to support Polish farmers. According to the campaign, Polish products are healthy, tasty, safe and in keeping with the cultural tradition. An appeal is made to patriotism to support the Polish economy. (Source: Agricultural Attaché Network Ministry of LNV, 08-04-2020)
Garden centres are open in Poland but... there are no customers or very few customers due to restrictions on movement of people in the country. The restriction on movement applies to: moving, travelling, being in public places. Children and adolescents under 18 years of age cannot leave the house unattended. Leaving the house is kept to an absolute minimum. You can move around when dealing with matters necessary (essential) for everyday life (which includes, for example, necessary purchases, buying medicines, visiting a doctor, caring for loved ones). Visiting garden centres is not recognised as necessary/essential for everyday life thus it may by punishable by a fine when checked by the police. The distance from other pedestrians should be at least 2 metres. Each store (both small and large-scale) can enter a maximum of as many people as the number of all cash registers or payment points multiplied by three. This means that if there are five cash registers in the store, there may be 15 customers. (Source: Polish Nurserymen Association)
Switzerland
The Lockdown measures have been extended until April 26th. A plan for gradual relaxation of the measures will be announced by the Federal Council on 16 April. (Source: SRF.ch, 08-04-2020)
UK
The temporary relaxation of the driving time rules has been extended until 21 April. This includes a daily limit of 11 instead of 9 hours, a weekly limit of 60 instead of 56 hours and a compulsory rest period of 45 minutes after 5.5 instead of 4.5 hours. (Source: Agricultural Attaché Network Ministry of Agriculture, LNV, 08-04-2020)
Some garden centres are continuing with existing online ordering, or improvising click and collect arrangements, but this is severely limited by public health guidelines on not making nonessential journeys. (Source: HTA)
USA
In nearly all the states, garden centres are being allowed to operate. Some are choosing not to, out of concern that they may not be able to adjust their operations sufficiently to protect their front-line workers. But most are operating, and prioritising online or telephone ordering, and curbside pickup or delivery. Those open to customers are limiting numbers, urging social distancing, and in some cases, taking appointments. (It is hard to imagine doing nearly the normal business volume this way, but “short breath is better than no breath at all.”) A handful of states have totally or nearly totally shut down independent garden centres, including Michigan and Pennsylvania. In some states, like New York, there are limited exceptions for retailers that sell food-producing plants. Worth noting that all over the country, vegetable plants and seeds and fruit trees and such are flying out the doors of places that are open. Also, important to note that even in the few states that are most restrictive, mass retailers are generally open and their garden centres are generally stocked and operating. While this is causing a backlash among independent retailers whose operations are constrained, mass retailers now move 60 per cent of the live goods that are sold direct to consumers, so they are vital for the growers. (Source: AmericanHort)