Dutch import and export consortium the Dutch Flower Group is ready to tough it out in the UK market, despite economic downturn.
The organisation’s Jurjan van der Laarse told FPJ: “Growth has been experienced in eastern Europe rather than the UK, but the UK remains one of our top countries to export to. Supermarkets are still taking a lot of volume, but the wholesale side in the UK is dying down due to the number of florists shrinking.
“We face difficulties in the UK and it may take one or two years to overcome the credit crunch. That is our belief and if we ride out the storm then we will be better placed in the market to survive.”
The company has also seen a shift in cut flower production from the Netherlands to African and Latin American countries, and has been focusing on how to operate a more environment-friendly operation in order to satisfy UK consumer demands.
“UK consumers ask for environment-friendly or non-airfreighted products and we are looking into other options such as containerisation and shipping the product over,” said van der Laarse, pictured. “This means a change from one to two days travel time to two to three weeks, but it is possible with some types of flowers, as long as the cool chain is consistent.”
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