"More than 8,000 trolleys with flowers and plants into the garbage", Jordi Iglesias of Nudim, a Dutch plant importer and exporter, posted on his Facebook page with the picture below. "It will not be the virus that will destroy our sector but the economic consequences," Dutch institutions in the industry already called for a emergency loan of 2 billion euros for the ornamental sector and expect the damage to reach 5 billion in the coming 2 months.
Source picture: Facebook page Jordi Iglesias
The trade has more or less come to a standstill. At the auction, today was better than yesterday, mainly because the supply of house plants and garden plants adhered to the regulations the auction outlined yesterday regarding tightening of the supply regulation. On the flower clocks half of the amount was supplied compared to the same day last week, but it was still too much. Therefore, they will enforce this more vigorously. Click here for more information on the emergency measure at FloraHolland.
When the opportunity presents itself...
Remaining alert is the advice. Landgard in Germany was closed, but at 4pm some clients sent in orders, a Dutch trader tells us. The German garden center Obi announced the closure of the doors of their facilities, but another chain announced to open its doors, another Dutch trader reports. Now, when the sun starts to shine and people need to stay at home most of the time, the idea that they'll start gardening is not that far-fetched.
No-one is a winner, says a Dutch plant grower, no one knows what to do and what the right thing is to do. Another one told us that he sold some plants to the UK, but things aren't looking rosy at all. A quick recovery of the situation is not expected and many are appealing to the government and calling for help.