Most growers will recover from the corona crisis, a new survey in 27 countries with ornamental production has revealed. However, the recovery is often been done without national and financial support.
The survey has been held by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) and FloraCulture International. 71% of the country associations believe that ’most growers will soon recover after this crisis’. At the start of the crisis, 70% was expecting that ’many growers were going out of business by the end of 2020’.
In Europe only a Dutch and Flemish emergency fund
In 78% of the countries, government financial support is available for businesses: 44% having access to support in paying staff wages, 59% to support loans, 33% to compensate lost sales. However, according to AIPH this support is mainly for retail companies. Very few countries have provided financial support for growers. In Europe, only the Netherlands and Belgium have an emergency fund for growers who lost turnover and sales.
In most countries, garden centres, florist shops and other retail outlets with flowers and plants have re-opened. 78% of the retailers still expect spring sales to be worse than last year spring. However, 46% is expecting a higher demand in the coming weeks, than at the same time last year. 81% is expecting a further increase in online sales.
Photo by AIPH
