The hot summer burned exports

Turnover in the international green sector was decisively influenced by the exceptional weather in 2018. Moreover, new players have emerged in the market. In order to compensate for turnover losses in existing markets, companies are also trying to expand their business further in promising regions. This is how Marianne Altmann and Andreas Löbke sum up the current situation in the market for flowers and plants, having been commissioned by Messe Essen to look more closely at the market in the run-up to IPM Essen.
The heat and the drought in the summer of 2018 took their toll on the European trade. For example, the Dutch Association of Wholesale Traders in Ornamental Plant Products (VDG) reported that the hot summer really burned Dutch exports. In the case of cut flowers, the Dutch organisation was unable to report positive export developments in any of its top-ten sales countries.
The hot temperatures disturbed the normal purchasing and selling routines. Retailers were considerably more reserved in placing orders in the risky summer months. Even in total for the first half of the year, only Poland and Russia amongst the top ten had positive export developments with regard to cut flowers.
In contrast, pot plant exports increased amongst the top-ten destination countries of the Netherlands, with the exception of Great Britain and Sweden. The fact that the export value of the Netherlands in 2018 was at the same record level as in 2017 is explained by the fact that the downturn in cut flowers was less than the growth in sales of house and garden plants.

It is interesting that exporters made great efforts to find other markets outside the core destination countries (the top-ten sales markets account for 80 percent of the export value). These efforts were successful: for example, the value of exports to the top ten declined by one percent, but the four percent growth in other countries compensated for this.
Dutch experts are certain that the difficulties in exporting plants to the traditional destination countries will increase and can only be overcome by switching to new, emerging markets like those in Asia and the Middle East. In destination countries outside Europe in particular, there are special budgets for flower decorations at large-scale events, and these are enabling continued growth.
The first unambiguous tendencies are already emerging. While Great Britain was the only sales market amongst the top ten to decline for Dutch…