All in all a good year

On an international level, Royal FloraHolland - as one of the most significant trading places for flowers and plants worldwide - is reporting good business for the first half of 2019. The export value of the Dutch flowers and plants was, at EUR 3.5 bn, 3 per cent above the level in the previous year and thus set a new record in spite of the heat wave in June. To an increasing extent, the exports to Scandinavia (plus 7 per cent), especially to Denmark, are responsible for these very good exports. In contrast, exports to Germany, the largest purchaser and consumer of Dutch flowers and plants and imports, dropped by 3 per cent in the same period. Moreover, exports to Italy, the most important sales market in Southern Europe, lost ground in comparison with the previous year (1 per cent).
In 2018, it was described that the Netherlands' exports to its five most important sales countries had decreased. Thus, this trend is continuing while sales in Eastern Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic) and Russia are rising. It seems that the traders' high expectations with regard to expanding the export activities in the Eastern European growth countries are being met in 2019. For example, precisely in the first few months of 2019, exports exhibited rates of increase amounting to 18 per cent to Russia and 10 per cent to Poland. Both countries are thus amongst the Netherlands' top five sales countries for the first time. In 2018, it was almost a sensation when they could be found amongst the top ten sales destinations for the first time. In the meantime, the export world champions for flowers and plants are seriously concerned about the diminishing turnovers of their two top sales countries, Germany and Great Britain, whose export values stagnated and dropped respectively in the last two years.

The consequences of Brexit are not yet easily understandable. It is a fact that the trade in horticultural products between the EU and Great Britain is continuing to decrease and the British market is being subjected to strong pressure.
In the summer of 2019, Great Britain imposed more stringent import conditions on roses from Canada, India, Mexico or the United States (USA) because of persisting problems in these countries with the rose rosette virus. This is also making the situation even worse.
Experts agree: seeds, cuttings, young plants, pots, compost, etc. from the EU form the foundation for British horticulture. A smooth product…