China world's No.1 in flower & plant production scale: survey
by Wang Xiaotong
BEIJING, May 29 (China Economic Net) - The Chinese edition of International Statistics Flowers and Plants 2023 was launched by China Flower Association at the just concluded 26th Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing. Data shows that China was No. 1 globally in production scale for flowers and plants, among which the production space for ornamental plants, cut flowers & pot plants, and bulbs & tubers ranked the first, second and third respectively in the world.
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Nearly 700 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions and a total of about 60,000 visitors gather together at the 26th Hortiflorexpo China in Beijing from May 23 to 25. [Photo/Wang Xiaotong]
Meanwhile, China was the world's largest producer of carnations, lilies and cut foliage, and the second largest producer of roses and chrysanthemums. Additionally, Netherlands ranked the first in production area for bulbs, tubers corns, etc., and India was No.1 in producing space for cut flowers & pot plants.
In terms of global flower trade, in 2022, Netherlands was still the largest player with its total volume of trade exceeding €14.2 billion while China ranked the twelfth with €7.96 billion.
In 2022, there were 22 countries and regions with global flower exports surpassing €100 million, and the top five countries were the Netherlands, Colombia, Italy, Ecuador and Germany. Simultaneously, there were 19 countries and regions with global flower exports overtaking €100 million, and the top five countries were the US, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and France. China's flower exports and imports were about €568 million and €228 million correspondingly, ranking the eighth and thirteenth separately in the world.
“In 1980s when we were in China, there was mainly yellow grass, no trees, and surrounding our hotel were big plains. Over that time we really have seen the development of China, China's flower market and local flower production. We have seen how professional the flower market currently is because a lot of our Chinese customers grew from very small one-person companies 20 or 30 years ago to very big professional companies,” Adriaan de Wit from Jan de Wit en Zonen B.V. told China Economic Net at the 26th Hortiflorexpo China. In 1984, their tulip bulbs were shipped to China for the first time. Their company has witnessed the significant development of the flower industry in China as well as China's economic rise. “Now China is state-of-the-art, everything digital, something very special,” he added.
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Adriaan de Wit's grandfather visits Hebei in 1988 vs. Adriaan de Wit and his father in a park full of tulips from their family company in Dalian, Liaoning in 2019. [Photo provided by Adriaan de Wit]
Looking into the future, “there's still a lot of potential,” Adriaan said. “We see a big e-commerce market coming up and I think that will continue improving in China. Besides that you can also see that at the expo there are a lot of Chinese companies not just in the flowers but also in the construction of greenhouses, new machinery, robots, etc. Everything surrounding the horticulture industry is continuously improving with innovations, new varieties and new products,” Dirk Jan de Wit said.
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Over 500 new flower and plant varieties are displayed at the 26th Hortiflorexpo China. [Photo/Wang Xiaotong]
(Editor:Liao Yifan)