Recession Aids British Growers

A recent article published in Horticulture week suggests that the unfavourable euro exchange rate seems to be paying dividends for the british cut flower industry. Our largest retailer, Tesco have announced that is buying more from UK producers rather than the Dutch growers.

Traditionally, British retailers buy nearly half their cut flowers from Holland but now it is cheaper to buy in the UK. Tesco has switched a proportion of its cut flower account from Holland to the UK.

However, now a supplier of daffodils to Tesco, Really Welsh, is reporting that the battle lines are being drawn between the Welsh and the Cornish.

Tesco’s cut flowers technical manager David Fryer said:

“Most large British retailers buy their cut flowers from Holland because Dutch growers have the scale of operation that makes it economically viable to buy from them.

With the current poor exchange rate that is no longer the case and the big UK flower retailers are taking more blooms from British growers. While we have always supported British growers, we are now putting more orders their way, which will result in a potential annual”.

Read Horticulture Week article (Requires free registration)

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