The market is recovering

After the catastrophic year 2013, the flowers and plants market in Europe is catching up but is still behind the 2013 level. Dr Marianne Altmann of Co-Concept, gives this assessment based on Eurostat figures, which have evaluated the currently available market data for Messe Essen. The analysis draws attention to the Dutch flower and plant export growth rates in the important purchasing countries like Germany, Great Britain and France. Demand is also increasing again in the countries that weren’t so badly hit by the economic recession. In Germany, Switzerland and Austria more flowers and plants will be sold by autumn 2014.
The political crisis in relations between the EU and Russia has led to a loss in value for the rouble. As a result, in the first 6 months of 2014, the Russian flower and plant import from Holland declined by 8.5 per cent. This reduction cannot be compensated by the EU market, leading to considerable pressure on prices.
However, as long as the current development continues, the export loss may be less than expected by the end of 2014, because the Polish import of flowers and plants has shown significant growth rates. At the same time, the Polish cut flowers export to eastern countries has tripled in comparison to the first half year of 2012; the main destinations being the Russian Federation and Belarus.