Inevitable as is the inexorable push by the Chinese into all arenas, the reasons behind those that draw a bead on us in the flower industry are very much of interest. One is new while the other has been heard of before.
It has happened with sneakers, with software, and with textiles. It has happened with just about everything in our day to day lives. No matter the laws, the tariffs and trade barriers, the arguments about intellectual property, it keeps on happening. For it to happen there needs to be collusion in the form of markets willing to accept and purchase goods at lower and lower prices, all the while staring their own diminishing industries brazenly and unsympathetically in the face. China now turns at least a little of its attention to Roses and their export.
“Is China suitable for growing flowers?” you ask. You had better believe it! Yunnan, the region that is developing this industry at the behest of President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, is eminently suitable. It is already home to much of the flora cultivated in gardens and nurseries around the world for both ornamental and commercial purposes. Those with a botanical background know full well that Yunnan is indeed a “growing climate.” As if a good climate were not enough, the government is ensuring that an infrastructure is in place to export what is fully intended to be the largest quantity of flowers grown in Asia within ten or so years. To this end, enormous highways and international airports are under construction. For growers, interest-free loans for greenhouses are being provided along with free refrigerated trucks to move product to market in exemplary condition. A quality control point that many western producers still neglect.
Just why is China’s might being placed behind the flower industry? Location, location, location is why Yunnan is receiving all this attention. It is part of the main route for smuggling heroin from Myanmar into China. Just as in Colombia, the government advocates cultivating flowers rather than drugs. It is also of interest to know that many of the current flower cultivating villages to the south of Kunming have a Muslim make up and again the government is concerned about the spread of Islamic fundamentalism into its western provinces. Development is seen as a way to stem these concerns.
With the never ending high cost of air freight China is trying to export crops that generate the highest return per pound. While they grow and export many flowers the focus may well come to rest on Roses, much to the concern of nations already established such as Colombia and Ecuador along with Kenya and of course The Netherlands. While China may not yet have plentiful supplies of the newest thornless Rose varieties, due to efforts on the part of European breeders who need to collect royalties on internationally registered varieties, they do have plentiful labor. A Rose industry worker may be expected to strip the thorns off roses for as little as $25/month thereby saving weight and air freight dollars. It is to be noted that as in other much larger and more visible industries China’s business practices in the flower arena cause many to object…to little avail I imagine.
There is no scenario where one might discount China in the cut flower arena. With their enormous productivity and substantive government funding brought to bear they will be just as much a giant here as in any other product. There are likely no insurmountable problems and as always the markets of Europe and the USA will eagerly buy good product for less. That simply goes without saying. Those that think they are safe because they have a specialty crop or are closer to markets had better not be complacent. “Made In China” now looks and smells like a rose.
So tonight I get on a plane for Quito, Ecuador to spend a few days with the assembled Rose world. In the process of viewing farms, new varieties and trends I will likely hear much more of the “noise” that China is creating in the flower world and begin to form a picture of people’s actions and reactions while considering where to position ourselves for the future.
Hello Mark-
After hearing you mention China and roses I thought I would find out more when you said you did a blog. Now I know more and you write pretty well for a Harvard educated journalism major.
Muy Amable, Carlos