For this Valentine’s season, Colombian floriculture, which is the second largest exporter in the world, prepares to export more than 60,000 tons of flowers internationally, having the reference last year, which ended up exporting 59,000 tons. That is, they expect growth this year between 3% and 5 percent.
Likewise, it is expected that by 2025 the total flower exports exceed 2.3 billion dollars of 2024. On key dates such as Valentín, the industry reaches its highest point of activity, with exports that represent between 15% and 18% of the Annual Sales of the Floriculs.
The president of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Assocolflores), Augusto Solano, said that it is very difficult to know how much it will be exported, since each company manages its own prices. He added that “it depends on the weather, the production, demands for the rest of the year. But we are optimistic because the main market is EU and I think that economy is going very well. ” Beyond the figures, this industry sustains the use of more than 200,000 people in the country, many of them women’s head. Colombia has established itself as the main supplier of United States flowers, representing 40% of the total value of this market. Almost 80% of national flower exports are destined for the US market.
These activities are key to the economy, specially for agricultural production, as floriculture puts 15% to the GDP of agriculture. These data show the need to guarantee the stability of the commercial relationship between Colombia and the US because it is key to the growth of the sector and stability thousands of families highlights the aggregation.
Due to the uncertainty of commercial relations between the United States and Colombia, the president of Assocolflores, explained the serious implications that a 25% tariff or even 50 percent would have.
According to Solano, these measures would have wasted the work of months to ensure that everything was ready for the Valentine’s season. “It is a season for which flower growers have been working since last year, investing, paying payrolls, suppliers, coordinating flights,” he said. “A 25% or 50% tariff would have had catastrophic consequences,” he warned.
The United Kingdom is another important buyer that had 5% of the total. Other destinations to highlight are: Canada, Holland and Japan that each represents 3 percent. One of the flowers that is most exported is the rose.
