Many growers, especially in Europe and Africa, have a relationship with Royal FloraHolland (RFH), the largest plant and flower marketplace in the world. The auction has around 4,000 members. There’s a strong focus on Royal FloraHolland in the new edition of Floribusiness. It’s inevitable. There’s been quite some unrest related to the auction during the past few months.
Several members initiated a petition that calls for an extraordinary meeting of the Members’ Council. They want to force an external audit of Floriday, the plans for mandatory certification and the functioning of the management.
The branch organisation for plant and flower wholesalers, the VGB, also joined in the discussion. They sent a letter to the directors of Royal FloraHolland and the chairman of their Supervisory Board. In the letter they’re asking them to hold off on their strategic innovations. The VGB expressed they want to see the auction move forward together with growers and traders.
Hundreds of million euros
“All these changes are leading to unrest, especially if there’s a lack of listening”, wrote VGB director Matthijs Mesken and VGB chairman Cees van der Meij. More unrest was caused by Floration Europe, who’s taking Royal FloraHolland to court for infringing their ocean freight patent. CEO Susanna Blanche Jones demands a compensation payment of hundreds of millions of euros from the auction. The interim injunction is scheduled for 2 March.(..)
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