Speaking to SMEpost.com, flower exporter Sridhar Choudhary, MD of Vinayaka Agritech Ltd, said, “As offices and colleges will be closed on Sunday, there may not be much of business in Europe. A large chunk of orders come from Europe and Middle East for Valentine’s Day. So it mayn’t be a very good business this season. But people still have the tendency to give roses to their loved ones whether it’s a working day or not”.
Dr.Thilak Subbaiah, Floriculture consultant, said, “Last 20 years, I have seen, flower business becomes dull whenever Valentine’s Day falls on Sunday”.
African exporters have already reduced their prices because the Russian flower market has collapsed due to falling Ruble. As Africa has no local market, unlike India, flower growers have reduced their prices and are dumping their produce in gulf countries.
Jayaprakash Rao, Secretary, South India Floriculture Association (SIFA), said, “Generally if Valentine’s Day falls on Friday or any weekdays, then it is good for Indian exporters. Gulf countries are not a problem, because for them Friday is a holiday, whereas in Europe, it is Sunday”.
He added, “We will get to know the real impact only after a week when orders start coming. Bangalore area production has increased this year. Though downy mildew (a fungal disease) was more this year, but that has not impacted the quality of harvest”.
As per National Horticulture Board (NHB), Karnataka was the second largest cut flower producing state after West Bengal in the year 2013-14. It also stated that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were the top two loose flower producing states during 2013-14.
Red Blooming Buds Floritech Private Limited Director, Chandrashekar Reddy Trilokesh, was a bit optimistic about flower export because Indian flowers are of high quality and importers in Europe will always prefer Indian flowers than any other country. But he apprehended that “In any agriculture crisis, it is the farmers who will suffer, neither the middlemen nor dealers”.
Indian roses go not only to Middle East, but also Far East, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Sridhar Choudhary added, “Far East is a much bigger market than Middle East because many Chinese reside in those countries. They (Chinese) celebrate Chinese New Year on Feb 7th. So definitely Far East is a bigger market”.
While Red, soft pink and white roses are exported for valentine’s day, all other coloured roses are used for Chinese New year in far East countries