Flower exports blooming now

Rao told Business Standard that the Valentine exports touched around 300 tonne, each tonne consisting of around 32,000 stems.

The standard stem of 50 to 60 cm length quoted a price of Rs 10 as against Rs 8 in the last season. Christmas and New Year alone helped the industry export over 200 tonne, bringing smiles back to the beleaguered industry, he said. The freight costs marginally rose to Rs 135 a kg as compared to last year's Valentine season.

Of the total floriculture exports from the country, Bangalore region accounts for around 60 per cent, followed by Pune with 30 per cent.

The Hosur belt of Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country account for the remaining share. The Delhi market, which once bloomed on par with that in Andhra Pradesh, is practically non-existent now.

The floriculture industry in Andhra Pradesh, which has wilted under nature's fury for the last two years, took recourse to better avenues in Karnataka and now plays a prominent role in the industry fortunes there, he said.

More than half of the 30-odd exporters from Karnataka are AP-based companies. Also, a significant portionof the nearly 150 hectares under flower cultivation in Karnataka, is held by these AP-based companies.

Prominent among them are CCL Flowers Limited, Crystal Agritech, Saachin Floritech, Suvarna Florex, Classic Biotech, Nagarjuna Agritech, Vasavi Florex, and Pochiraju Floritech. They are concentrated in Doddaballapur in Karnataka.

For the first time, the industry succeeded in bypassing middlemen and secure direct linkages to the departmental stores and supermarket chains in the Middle East, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.

The regular process of going through the Dutch auctions cost the industry dearly in the past with the industry having had to incur high marketing expenses.

Also, the industry saw a marked shift in the preferences of importers, with a demand creeping in for coloured roses. Red Roses dominate the exports. The industry also took heart from the fact that the Indian roses could withstand tough competition from South Africa, Kenya and Russia.

There has been better acceptance of the Indian flowers in the season, and repeat orders too poured in aplenty," Rao said.

The hitherto rose exports confined to the rose season of September to March have now found new markets throughout the year, except during the summer, with the opening up of new markets in Japan, Singapore and the Gulf region.

Rao rued that the Indian floriculture industry would have fared better had there been better logistics support. Inadequate air connectivity was the main worry of the industry, besides poor handling operations at the airports.

At present, India's share in the global floriculture trade is less than 0.5 per cent. However, the exports have a huge potential for growth, he said.

On the air connectivity, he pointed out that it hardly took half-a-day for transport of flowers within Europe, as compared to two days for the Indian flowers to reach the same destination.

Though Bangalore and Mumbai airports ship out a major portion of flowers to Europe, Hyderabad airport with a cold storage, is emerging as an export point for the Gulf region, he said.

On the domestic market scenario, Rao said it was growing by around 15 per cent every year. The price realisation was also improving with the farm gate price of a stem quoting at Rs 4-5, he said.