How Coronavirus Crushed the Global Flower Market?

No industry in the world is completely immune to the Coronavirus crisis and the flower industry around the globe is no exception. It has been seen that the florists across the world are crushing and destroying their flowers because there is absolutely no market available across the world for their sale.

Netherland is the dominant hubs of flower supply in the world and where Spring is the busiest time of the year and where they cultivate flowers for every occasion like chrysanthemums for Easter, Roses for Valentine’s and Mother’s day and Tulips in full blossom for every occasion. But in the current situation the florists in this country are also destroying their flowers due to the reduction in demand. 

When Coronavirus hit the world then along with other industries and markets the floral market also suffered a lot. Most of the farmers started cultivating the flowers at the start of this year like in January and February but by the mid of April and May the situation got worse.

Supply declined rapidly and as a result the local markets and farmers didn’t find any market to sell their products. Most of the flowers were being composted. The COVID-19 grounded both deliveries as well as shipments.

Now that most of the governments have banned any kind of public gatherings like weddings or any other parties or events therefore people are hardly buying flowers of any kind.

 

Supply and Demand Chain

Floral industry has become a giant industry throughout the world. Countries like Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom and Asian countries like China, Hong Kong and Ukraine they have made it into a huge economic hub.

Before Coronavirus these countries used to supply fresh and beautiful flowers not only to their own local markets but also to international markets. As a result they used to have huge profits; China alone stands at $8 billion when it comes to its floral industry.

But due to Coronavirus social gathering is banned which means that people cannot have extravagant weddings or bridal showers which were the major source of flower demands.  

Due to this reduction in demand the supply has also reduced drastically. Flowers and other greeneries that were grown at the start of this year are either crushed completely or they have been grounded.

 

A crisis like never before!

Netherland is considered to be a hub of floral industry; it accounts for half of the global trade in floral products and almost 77% of the floral bulbs are sold worldwide.

The top destination of these flowers includes UK, France, Italy and Germany. The floral industry in this country alone accounts for almost 5% of the country’s GDP and its net worth is almost $6.7 billion.

But now due to the Coronavirus crisis the total revenue generated from this industry has dropped by 85% and if the crisis remains like this then it will drop even more.

This decline is as a result of the battle against the virus because in order to stop the spread countries had to inflict social distancing which also reduced large gatherings and consequently the demand dropped rapidly.

 

Netherlands is not the only country!

By looking at the overall data of the world it is quite apparent that Netherlands is not the only country. There are other countries where the floral industries are facing challenges and Ethiopia and Kenya is some of the most affected ones.

Kenya and Ethiopia are the countries which are producers of all kinds of roses. After remittances in Kenya flowers are the second largest sources of currency, almost 70% of the cut flowers in Kenya are exported to Europe.

But now due to the ongoing situation the demand in these flowers has reduced drastically and that is why roses in Kenya are rotten and destroyed completely.

 

 

What the florists are doing with their flowers?

The flowers are grown in huge numbers each year because of the fact that flowers are an integral part of every occasion. Weddings are one of the main events when the demand for these flowers increases significantly.

Apart from wedding flowers are also integral parts of Mother’s day, Valentine’s Day and also for funerals. But now the growers are giving their unsold flowers to hospitals and also to passer-by on the streets.

Along with that in the Dutch floral industry almost 150,000 florists are working, many have their own family-owned businesses and now all of them are jobless.

 

An uncertain crisis

Coronavirus has hit the world economy differently; almost every sector is suffering be it aviation or tourism. It is not the first time that world is facing any crisis but the nature of this crisis is somewhat different.

No one knows exactly when this crisis will end and life will get back to normal. This means that the floral industry has gone into a crisis for a longer period of time than any other industry.

There were many crises before like hurricanes etc but their intensity was less as compared to the current situation.

It is not known when will this crisis end which is another issue because now the florist cannot even start planning for their next seasonal flowers.

In some countries the florists are demanding for financial lifelines because without the support of governments these florists will go bankrupt which will create loads of joblessness.

The governments are introducing various economical plans for different sectors, they must include floral industry in their plan too, because most of the floral companies have completely shut down their business and they are now in financial uncertainty so the government must address their concerns too otherwise it will be a huge blow to all the floral industries across the globe.