Ecuador

According to Ecuador's national association of flower growers and exporters, Expoflores, Valentine's Day flower exports between January 18 and February 10, 2024 increased by 10% year-on-year and by 2% in total. This growth occurred mainly as a result of weather conditions, which were very anomalous for this period of time, but favorable for flower production, provoked by the El Niño phenomenon. Unusually high temperatures, plenty of sunshine, and no precipitation contributed to good flower production in Ecuador. Thus, flower products intended for deliveries for the holidays flowered much earlier, and continued to be produced at a high level throughout the entire period of deliveries for St. Valentine's Day. This allowed us to fulfill customers’ orders efficiently and in full at good prices.

However, once the Valentine's Day shipments were completed, a drop in production began, which was especially reflected in the red explorer rose variety. After aggressive rose pinching and active sales for the Valentine's holiday, the so-called “scorched earth” effect occurs, when the peak production cycle has ended and the new harvest has not yet had time to grow. Therefore, prices are constantly rising and have already reached a level higher than the prices they were during Valentine's Day shipments. We expect an even greater price increase for explorer in the next two weeks. Therefore, we recommend paying attention to alternative varieties of red roses varieties (freedom, red panther, born free, bellisima-royal explorer, mayras red, hearts etc).

You can still find offers on colored Ecuadorian roses at normal prices on our web platform of daily farms’ offers. However, a proportional increase in prices for these positions is expected due to a drop in production. At the moment, all pink shades of rose varieties are available on the market in small quantities, which causes the significant increase in prices.

Due to problems with the supply of gypsophila from Israel, customers are redirecting orders to Ecuador. Therefore, a serious shortage of gypsophila, both natural and dyed, is forecast in the coming weeks. We recommend placing orders in advance to raise the possibility that they will be fulfilled. The chances of buying gypsophila same-day, or a couple of days before departure from the farm are nil.

In Ecuador there are many offers of carnations, both red, mixed, in varieties or in monocolors at very attractive promotional prices. Every day we publish on our online trading web platform the daily offers of reliable farms, the quality of which our customers are satisfied with. At the same time, in Colombia there is a great shortage of all types of carnations and mini-carnations, so we advise you to pay attention to Ecuadorian growers

Colombia

The El Niño phenomenon also had an impact, but of a more negative nature, on flower production in Colombia. Rising air temperatures and intense solar radiation also caused an earlier peak in rose production in the 2nd and 3rd weeks instead of the expected 4th.

However, the production of carnations and hydrangeas was the most affected in Colombia. Unfortunately, low nighttime temperatures, below zero degrees Celsius for an average of up to six hours, along with severe drought, have led to a notable slowdown in growth and production output. So, for example, as a result of the aforementioned climatic factors in the Colombian market during Valentine's Day shipments there were practically no hydrangeas with a head diameter of more than 20 cm and the farms were switched to hydrangeas with a diameter of head of 16-18 cm, so we were able to fulfill all holiday customers’ orders from reliable farms.

Hydrangea is currently available in all bud sizes in Colombia. However, it is better to place orders in advance to ensure that you receive the flower you are interested in.

All other types of flowers can be purchased without problems.

For customers who use our web platform of on-line offers to purchase their orders, in the current market situation we recommend the following:

• Take into account our comment-advice (placed in the upper left corner of our trading platform and highlighted in red), which will help you navigate current purchasing trends.
• Start purchasing at 7:00 am Ecuadorian time that will significantly increase the chances of purchasing shortage positions, which are usually sold out within an hour after the start of purchase.
• Do not try to reduce prices for red varieties and all pink shades. At the moment the farms are not willing to negotiate prices for red varieties and all shades of pink roses, so they run the risk of wasting time and running out of shortage positions. The farms prefer to sell shortage positions to the customer who immediately confirms his willingness to accept the farms' prices and also helps with the purchase of regular varieties of colored roses.
• Request regular varieties of color roses in a 1:1 or even 2-3:1 ratio with red roses on the same farm. For instance, now the farms confirm explorer and freedom varieties only in packages with several positions of regular colors.
• Pay attention to the purchase of other red varieties available in online offers on the web.