Traditional roses and all other red flowers are in demand at the Aalsmeer flower auction in The Netherlands, one of the world’s biggest, where the approach of Valentine’s Day means sales are soaring.
During these busy days Aalsmeer, nicknamed “The Wall Street of Roses”, doubles its daily sales to almost 40-million flowers a day.
“Together with Christmas and Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day is the busiest period for us. In a week we make 15% to 20% of our annual sales figure,” Didier Campos, who manages sales to France for European flower wholesale trader TopFlora, said.
TopFlora buys most of its flowers from the Aalsmeer exchange, a cooperative auction platform that sells for thousands of flower growers from all over the world, located at about 20km from Amsterdam.
“The biggest demand is for red roses, of course, but also for all pink roses,” said Adrienne Lansbergen, spokesperson for the Aalsmeer exchange, walking past hundreds of carts of roses waiting to go to auction.
“Tulips and red lilies, orchids and also plants cut to create a heart shape are trendy,” she added.
“You can smell that it’s Valentine’s Day,” Lansbergen said, walking into the auction room where the roses are sold.
“The hall is almost filled up and it is our biggest with almost 500 seats.”
Since six in the morning buyers have been snapping up long stemmed red roses at extravagant prices.
“In August, some of these roses sell for â,¬0,15 apiece but now demand is so high that they go for â,¬1,50,” sighed Didier Campos, who is buying to supply French supermarkets with ready made bouquets.
Such flower brokers work under a lot of pressure: the auction is actually a clock counting down from a maximum price to zero. The buyers sit with one ear glued to the phone and an eye trained on the wall where the type of flower, the name of the grower, the origin and the quality of the product on the carts before them is written.
On a clock projected on the wall before them an arrow counting down from one euro to zero is spinning at a dizzying speed only to be interrupted when a buyer pushes the small black button in front of him.
“The first one who pushes the button buys the lot. It’s all a question of the right moment: if he waits he runs the risk that the flowers will go to someone else, if he pushes too soon he ends up paying too much,” Lansbergen explained.
“It’s really the law of supply and demand. We are called ‘The Wall Street of Roses’ because here we set the sales prices for the whole world,” she added.
At Aalsmeer the supply is always big and varied thanks to three thousand flower growers who form the auction cooperative. The growers are mainly Dutch but there are also floriculturalists from Ethiopia, Kenya and Israel.
“We sell at least 400 varieties of roses. Each year we put about 70 new types on sale,” Lansbergen said proudly.
As soon as the flowers are sold they go on to wholesalers and exporters who get them to their final destination by truck or by plane. Eighty-five percent of flowers sold in Aalsmeer are meant for export.
“They could be on sale in New York as of tonight,” Lansbergen said.
For Didier Campos, last Friday was the busiest day.
“We put together and sent off 180 pallets, which means 35 000 bouquets that will be in French supermarkets,” he said.
Valentine’s Day is Wednesday February 14. — AFP