The price of the rose, the symbolic flower of love, is set to quadruple by the Valentine’s day to hit the new record of Rs 60 a stem against the existing price of Rs 15.
The flower remains the preferred option among a variety of costly and cost-effective gifting opportunities not just because of its lower price, but also due to the special place it has enjoyed as a symbol of romance.
A recent study by The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) finds that the flower’s demand multiplies manifold during “love days” such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, thereby taking the entire floriculture industry’s growth to 30% annually. Rapid growth, therefore, is likely to take overall sales in the industry to Rs 8,000 crore by 2015.
Currently, the floriculture industry in India is poised at about Rs 3,700 crore with a tiny share of 0.61% of the global pie. This is likely to reach 0.89% by 2015.
The global floriculture industry, which is currently growing at an annual rate of 15%, is likely to cross the Rs 9 lakh crore mark by 2015 from the current level of about Rs 6 lakh crore.
With a share of about 65%, the rose in India accounts for over Rs 2,400 crore of the overall floriculture industry. Globally, the flower has a 75% of the floriculture industry, said the study.
Rising demand from tier-II and III cities, apart from urban centres, is likely to spur demand for roses this Valentines’ Day as price of export-quality cut flowers is likely to quadruple from its current average ruling price of about Rs 15 to Rs 60 a stem.
The Assocham study is based on interactions with about 250 rose merchants including the cultivators, exporters, wholesale flower dealers and florists in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune to gauge the scenario vis-à-vis business of rose flower during the Valentine’s week considering India is also world’s biggest rose grower.
Demand for roses has spiraled upwards by over 25% in domestic and by about 30% in international markets as the V-Day draws closer, said over 55% of all the respondents.
Fall in the value of rupee against major currencies is the prime reason behind this upsurge in demand for roses in international markets of Australia, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries of Europe and the Middle East.
While, growing demand for roses from cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Surat, Kanpur, Lucknow, Patna among others is driving the high demand for roses in the domestic circuit.
Besides, majority of flower growers also said they are hoping for about 30% rise in terms of revenue during February alone with a turnover of about Rs 10 crore.
Labour dogs and rising input costs, high fuel and freight costs apart from sky-rocketing prices of fertilisers tough competition from major rose producing countries like Israel, Kenya and Ethiopia are constantly hurting the margins of the domestic rose industry, said about 70% of respondents.
Crude handling of cut flowers after cutting leads to poor realization of Indian roses in the international markets, said 40% of respondents emphasizing that it is imperative to increase production levels to ensure India has a better and bigger share in the global rose market.
Many rose cultivators and growers said they are experimenting by growing genetically modified roses thereby injecting roses with different types of genes to help them fight diseases, fungal pathogens after they have been picked up and extend their ‘vase life’ by making roses live longer.
About 40 crore cut roses are grown across India every year and Karnataka alone accounts for about 75% followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.