Colombia’s flower industry last week began preparing for Valentine season, spurring hopes of strong sales after a sad string of years with painfully low profits.
“We estimate about five hundred million [Colombian] flowers will be exported, mainly to the U.S.,” said the union leader of Ascocolflores, the Colombian Association for Flower Exports.
The president of Asocolflores said that an additional 10,000 jobs will be added to the floriculture industry, which regularly employs about 130,000 people across 48 municipalities in the central zone of Colombia.
The flower industry’s profitability, however, has been scraping along the ‘floor’ over the last six years.
The peso’s recent revaluation has contributed to a dollar-peso exchange rate that has maintained almost zero growth in the floriculture sector, according to Asocolflores’ President.
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Since 2007, flower exports have fallen 12.4%. The sector’s largest market, the United States, fuels demand for 72.8% of annual flower exports.