Cheap Imports Are Killing B.C.’s Rose Industry

Bouquets of long-stemmed red roses will bring romance to many on Valentine’s Day
next weekend, but in B.C. the sale of millions of inexpensive imported roses
will spell yet another devastating blow to local cut-rose growers.

What was a booming multimillion-dollar industry only a few years ago has been
shattered by a continuous avalanche of roses from South America, mainly from
Ecuador and Colombia.

In 2003, a total of 11.6 million cut roses grown locally were sold through the
three-day-a-week Dutch auction run by the United Flower Growers Cooperative in
Burnaby.

To read the rest of this story please go to:

The Vancouver Sun