Sales of Colombian cut flowers are expected to fall in the United States this year due to a reduction in the country’s consumer spending, changing climate patterns and an increase in the value of the Colombian peso, reports newspaper La Republica.
Earnings collected from sales of the export commodity are predicted to decrease from the $1.03 billion registered last year – a figure which itself is a reduction from the previous year’s sales.
President of the Colombian Flower Exporters’ Association, Augusto Solano, explained that the demand for cut flowers in the United States “continues to be low.”
The strengthening of the Colombian peso has meant a reduction in the competitiveness of the product on the world market, whilst recent problems of drought in Colombia, as well as the unusually cold start to the year, have had a damaging effect on the production of cut flowers in certain areas of the country, explained Solano.
Officials at the Colombian Ministry of Commerce have announced that they will continue to search for new export markets for the product, in order to curb the fall in sales.