FLORAHOLLAND (22 April 2010) – As a result of European airspace opening up to some extent, the supply of flowers to FloraHolland is slowly increasing. A few successful air shipments from for instance Nairobi to Amsterdam, and from Kenya via Luxembourg, made it possible for the auction to be able to trade approx. 5% to 10% of the international supply at the beginning of the week. In addition, ‘hard’ products such as Waxflower and decorative foliage from Israel have been arriving by boat as per usual over the past couple of days. The international supply is expected to gradually rise to its normal level in the coming days.
The prices of large-flowered roses, gypsophilia, carnations, and goldenrod were on the rise during the past couple of days, as were those of cut and decorative foliage. The prices of other products remained more or less stable. Despite higher prices for some products, today's daily sales were lower due to lower volumes than last year. It is estimated that international growers have suffered damages amounting to several million euros per day.
Product Quality
Those flights now departing and those which are planned contain fresh products. The international growers have collected and destroyed the flowers they had stored in the airports' cold stores. Due to the lengthy closure of the airspace, it was necessary to recall the lots of flowers to the farm for destruction (see photo).