Flora Holland: September closes with a deceptive plus

According to the auction statistics of Flora Holland, the wet, fall month of September that just came to a close, concluded with an increase in turnover of 4% when compared to September 2012, with an increase in volume of 4.2%. However, this positive result should not be taken at face value.

This year, the month of September had one additional auction day, and moreover, it fell on a Monday. This gave rise to a distorted image that would not have existed had the number of auction days been equal. Not only did the auction turnover stall, but for some time the export of ornamental plants and flowers remained behind that of last year. Up through August, this had been the case for six months, which amounted to 4% in lost ground. Not only did the top three (Germany, the UK and France) not attain the same levels as in 2012, but Russia, the 'golden boy' remained 1% behind on last year. It is hoped that the period in October preceding All Saints' Day/All Souls' Day will once again be significant and we shall be able to see the extent to which the new flowers day on 7 October, and teachers' day on 10 October, have been able to get off the ground.

Slight pressure on flower prices

September was not a very good month for chrysanthemums, and it was a difficult one for the spray variety in particular. Although there was 9% more stems, the average price dropped by almost €0.06 per stem. The disbudded flowers also brought in €0.023 less per stem, despite the supply being larger. Calla also dropped by more than €0.07 in price. The late season was the reason that 7.2% more supply had to be sold. Other flowers that did not achieve the same price levels as last year are Lisianthus, Freesia and Hortensia. The last two, Freesia and Hortensia, also saw significantly increased supply levels (28% and 16.5% respectively). Fortunately, we do have some good news. This year, Gerbera and Lily realized considerably higher average prices than in September 2012. The price of Rose stabilized at almost 5% more stems. Cut flowers turnover was up 2.6% from September 2012 with nearly 4.5% more units sold. The average price reached €0.218 - an increase of almost half a cent.

House plants score big with higher volumes

In September, the overall average price of Phalaenopsis was more than €0.16 higher than in the same month of 2012, with an increase in pots of almost 8%. Additionally, we saw higher volumes of pot chrysanthemums (+5.5%) and pot anthuriums (+7.2%), but this did put pressure on the prices. Both plants saw a reduction in turnover of approx. 2%. Bromelia achieved a significant increase in price of almost €0.23 per plant, although its volumes did shrink by more than 6%. We saw large increases in the supply of pot roses and Dracaena, which led to pressure being put on prices. Pot roses dropped to just less than €0.90 - four cents less than in 2012. The supply of Dracaena jumped by almost 22%, and with that in mind, the drop in average price of €0.06 doesn't seem so bad. Ficus was even able to increase its price by €0.10 despite the 6.5% increase in supply. House plants sold 8.8% more than in 2012, which is above average when you remember that the supply increased by 4.3%. The average price was €1.707 - an increase of exactly 7 cents..

Garden plants still not performing well

The tropical weather combined with a number of very wet days contributed to the under-performance in the garden plants segment. We saw wildly varying results per product and the group as a whole experienced a drop in turnover of 9.5% in comparison to last year, with a 5.1% reduction in volume. The average price dropped by 4 cents to €0.801.