Ecuadorean flower exports are expected to rise just 2 percent during this year's peak Valentine's Day season, small comfort to an industry hit by high operating costs, a sector leader said on Friday.
The Andean nation, one of the world's main rose exporters, aims to sell 543,139 boxes of flowers during two weeks before Valentine's Day on February 14, mostly to the United States, compared to 532,489 boxes in the same period last year.
Flowers are Ecuador's third-biggest primary export after crude oil and bananas. The nation of 12 million people received $273 million for its flower exports during the first 11 months of 2003, according to Central Bank data.
Ecuadorean flower growers say they have been hard-hit by rising production and labour costs since the country adopted the US dollar as its currency in 2000 in search of stability. A lack of credit also has hurt the business.
"We've had problems that have hurt production, which lead us to forecast that we might not have the volume that we could if we had better conditions," Jorge Lopez, vice president of Ecuador's flower exporters association Expoflor, told Reuters.
Ecuador, known for its exotic scarlet and peach-colored roses, received $112 million for its flower exports last Valentine's Day season and expects to generate between 3 percent to 4 percent more this year, Lopez said.
"The market is stable, especially in the United States, which is where we mostly sell for Valentine's Day," he said.
Comments
Comments are closed.