Valentine’s Day, Coldiretti: “53% of Italians choose flowers, for over 100m of expenditure”
53% of Italians who give gifts for Valentine’s Day have chosen to give flowersaccording to the online survey conducted by Coldiretti, which estimates one total expenditure of over 100 million euros. This was stated by the association in a note. With the descent of the infections and the stop to outdoor masks, the Valentine’s Day becomes, in fact, this year the symbol of a first return to normality but also an opportunity to restart the purchases of plants and flowers in Italy despite the very serious difficulties linked to the increase in energy costs that are bringing greenhouses to their kneesexplains Coldiretti.
This year, producing flowers costs Italian farmers 30% more with nurseries that are now forced to produce practically at a loss. In fact, the energy emergency affects not only the costs of heating greenhouses, but also fuels for moving machinery, the costs of raw materials, fertilizers, pots and cartons.
Hence the importance of preferring production in a difficult moment for the national economy Made in Italy by choosing the purchase of tricolor flowers, directly from producers or from points of sale that guarantee their origin, to support businesses, employment and the territory, concludes Coldiretti.
Roses for Valentine’s Day? Half of lovers give it up due to price increases of up to 40%
A Valentine’s Day with a few bouquets of rosesthe retail price of which has arrived up to 10 euros (+ 40%) for the long-stemmed flower, above 70cm. 50% of couples in love will therefore choose mixed bouquets in which a typical product prevails made in Italy, cheaper compositions -30 euros on average-, with various types: buttercups, freesias, anemones, gerberas, alstroemerie, carnations (all from 1.5 to 2 euros per stem) and a single red rose in the center. The carnation is also used on February 14 for the classic heart-shaped compositions. “
Cia-Agricoltori Italiani recalls “how the Italian cut flower sector is particularly linked (unlike Northern Europe) to special occasions: Mother’s Day, Women’s Day, Valentine’s Day and the day of the dead, which represent more than 50% of annual flower purchases. In this 2022 turnover of the feast of lovers stands for Cia sui 80 million eurosin line with 2021, with the sale of around 30 million flowers “.
For the CIA, “the crisis of the international transport system during the pandemic has therefore foreign imports of roses decreasedwhich come to the 90% from Equador (le Freedom and Explorer), Colombia, Kenya (the famous Red Naomi), Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, where the low cost of labor and the hot climate, which does not require heated greenhouses, have not made European production of this flower more competitive for a long time, well before the current energy emergency. There little Italian production, not heated in the greenhouse, it has to wait for the warm season and is not ready for marketing on February 14th “.
“If the rise of the flower symbol of Saint Valentine it is, therefore, the effect of the scarcity of product on the market, Italian flower growers – underlines Cia – do not take great advantage of it, essentially breaking even. The estimate of a higher sale of Italian flowers (+ 20%) must, in fact, compensate for the increases in electricity prices which, contrary to what has been claimed in recent days, have nothing to do with the heating of greenhouses.
In fact, most of the Italian floricultural product in the Tuscan, Campania and western Ligurian districts is grown in the open field or in a cold greenhouse. In these realities, the increased price of gas and diesel (the agricultural one has gone from one to 1.20 euros and is expected to rise again by 10-15 cents) rather affect the emergency irrigation for flowers, which need to be preserved from prolonged drought that characterized this winter; or they break down on ordinary and necessary interventions such as the ones for feeding the storage cells and the lamps for the inflorescence.
Cia also remembers the30% increase in some essential raw materials to the horticultural sector, such as soil, pesticides or packaging. The price of plastic has increased by 18%, the same percentage increase also for wood, peat price lists have increased by 10%, those of plant protection products by 10% “.
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