Flower prices must rise every festival, as it is the practice of the Kunming Dounan flower market, but this year is somewhat surprising. Mother's Day is getting closer and closer. Although flower farmers, florists, and flower shops have begun stocking up for Mother's Day, the flower prices in Dounan Flower Market have not risen but fallen.
In the fresh-cut flower trading area of Kunming Dounan Flower Market, interviewed florists said that the current market for fresh-cut flowers is not optimistic. Lilies, carnations, roses, and others that were highly sought after in previous years, are fresh cut flowers that symbolize beauty and blessings to mothers. But the online orders are not as good as before. "As of now, orders have decreased by about 65% compared to the same period in previous years," said Wu Wei, head of Yunnan Yanyuxuan Flower Company.
The prices of cut roses sold at Dounan Flower Market and the prices of fresh-cut flowers at Kunming Dounan Flower Market have continued to decline since April 9. At present, the price of fresh-cut flowers is only two-thirds of what it was at that time. The price of "Corolla" roses has dropped from 25-45 RMB per bundle five days ago to 10-15 RMB per bundle, and the poor quality ones are only 8 RMB per bundle. "Hong Fu" and "Pink Beauty" carnations fell from 23 RMB and 30 RMB per bundle five days ago to 8-13 RMB and 22 RMB. Some carnations sell for only 8-10 RMB per bundle. "The main reason is that due to the obvious impact of the pandemic, the business of many flower shops is sluggish, and secondly, the weather heats up and the amount of flowers increases."
Dounan auction transaction data shows that the supply of flowers has been sufficient recently, and the average auction transaction price is around 0.7 RMB per flower. However, there is not much demand for flowers on Mother's Day and May 1st, Labor Day. Affected by the pandemic, the logistics of fresh-cut flowers are blocked, which is an essential factor in the downturn of the flower market.
In a flower shop in the center of Kunming, although carnations, lilies, and other flowers are placed in conspicuous places, the sales of bouquets in the past week were no more than five times per day, and the price was very low. In the years before the pandemic, orders were received ten days before Mother's Day. The closer to Mother's Day, the more orders there would be. The flowers used for Mother's Day are mainly carnations, roses, sunflowers, lisianthus, lilies, and other mainstream varieties. The flower colors are mainly pink, red, yellow, and orange. This year, the pink carnations are at least 50% higher than the red ones. The demand for pink roses has increased sharply, and the price will rise about a week before the festival.
Source: Tencent.com