The Ecuadorean flower sector traditionally peaks around Valentine’s Day. Around 30% of all their flowers, mostly roses, are traded at that time of year. 2021 is an extraordinary year, due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as local conditions. Bad weather meant that the Valentine’s peak was off to a slow start.
Ferenc de Vries sells flowers for Malima Gyps and Welyflor Roses from Ecuador, and Expoflora Lilies from Costa Rica. He reports that this Valentine’s period was different, partially due to the weather.
“It’s been cold for a long time and we had lots of rain, so we were facing higher chances of pests and diseases and the flowers came into bloom later than normal. We’d already lost part of the production last year due to Covid-19; some nurseries decided to cull their crops or they stopped maintaining their crops properly. All in all, supply wasn’t great in January”, says De Vries.
Splitting loads
“We brought some orders forward because there was sufficient airfreight available initially. But there was still a lot left on the last couple of days, when we were splitting loads, moving boxes around and so on.”
De Vries had already sold 80% of the supply before the actual start of the Valentine’s peak, from mid-January. He tried to sell the remaining 20% in the last few days before Valentine’s Day. (..)
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