Despite initial predictions to the contrary, the Dutch export of flowers and plants in 2010 was not all that great after all. Even though the sector showed 5 percent growth compared to the prior year, this was significantly lower than the 8 percent growth which initially seemed to manifest itself during the course of the year. Herman van de Boon, chairman of the VGB – the Dutch horticulture-sector organization for wholesaling – therefore qualifies the overall result as ‘unsatisfactory’.
The frost and cold that plagued Europe during December, plus very disappointing sales in the normally booming Christmas-week, have significantly affected the end result according to the VGB. “The export of our products has not completely recovered from the economic crisis yet”, De Boon concludes. He expects total turnover to approximate the 5.2 billion of 2008 at a maximum, and potentially to remain even below that mark.
For the growers, 2010 signaled little real recovery as well, according to De Boon. Although prices at the auctions did increase with a couple of percent on the whole, this was not significant enough to offset the increased costs and crisis-induced financial backlog. “For our import countries as well, especially those in Africa, 2010 was a miserable year”, De Boon laments.
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