In Rizho, a city in the northern Shandong province of China, a new 16ha greenhouse complex for rose cultivation is arising. The project is being realized by Israeli greenhouse builder Azrom and is expected to be finished at the end of August/beginning of September.
But what is the reason for this greenhouse to be built? Zviki Porat, Azrom's Global Marketing Manager explains: "In China, the demand for high quality flowers is increasing. Traditionally, and due to climatic reasons, 70-80% of China rose cultivation is in the Southwest part of the country (Yunnan province); however, the best markets are located about 3,000 km from there, in the rich Eastern coast (Shanghai) and in the North of China (Beijing). The distance between the production bases and the market lead to high prices for the consumers, that is due to transportation cost and depreciation. For this reason, a big group that got recently involved in agriculture decided to build a high standard greenhouse closer to the main markets, in Rizho. This city is situated right between Beijing and Shanghai, 700 km from Beijing and 600 km from Shanghai. In this way, they can meet the demand for higher quality roses, for reasonable prices as transportation is shorter."
The greenhouse is equipped with all kinds of techniques that is required to grow these high quality roses in the Chinese climate. "The weather in China is very varied; in most areas the summers are very hot and the winters very cold. This requires practical thinking of solutions for both seasons, needs maximum energy efficiency and low costs." As this is Azrom's third rose greenhouse project in China, the company is already quite experienced. "By taking all factors into consideration, our team decided to build a multi-span plastic greenhouse that is fully automated with heating and very high rate of ventilation and high level of fertigation system including fully recycling system."
The project took off in May and is expected to be finished the end of August/the beginning of September.
For more information: 
Azrom Greenhouses
Zviki Porat
zviki@azrom.com
www.azrom.com