Flower Council of Holland Flowers
Basic Material Newsletter Mar 2005
Three questions about the export of Dutch basic material
Leiden, March 2005 – The Flower Council of Holland put three questions about the export of basic material to Mr. Jan Lanning, head of marketing for flowers and plants at the Agricultural Trades Council. Among other things this organisation registers the export statistics for flowers, plants and basic material generated by Dutch exporters.
Growth in exports of Dutch basic material has slowed down. Can you give us a reason for this?
Lanning:” In traditional markets exporters of basic material indicate an increase in problems with the sale of end products. Poor results mean that flower and plant producers have to give up and this automatically means a drop in sales. I anticipate continuous growth in Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.”
Lanning also points out the rising inclination to opt for familiar varieties. In the long run, of course, this can hold back rejuvenation and innovation within the assortment.
Are there any other reasons behind the stagnating export of basic material?
Lanning: “Young plants are increasingly being grown in countries outside the Netherlands, specifically in countries with better climates and lower production costs. Although Dutch companies are in charge there, the revenues from sales generally go directly to the producers who use the basic material to produce the end product. This is why these revenues are not booked as exports of Dutch basic material, although they do contribute to the operating results of the Dutch companies”.
Rose breeding: from hobby to success story
Leiden, March 2005 – A Dutch rose grower has turned his hand to breeding his own products and has booked a success story. He actually took first prize in the quality competition at the last HortiFair.
In an article for the florist trade journal Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, the grower explains how the breeding activities were the result of his fascination with new varieties. When his two sons joined the business, one of them, who had previously worked for a Dutch rose breeder, took the breeding work in hand.
Since then the rose grower has set up a separate company for this activity. Bot@nic Roses and its products are a great success. The company now has three new varieties to its name: Pura Vid@, Tenga Veng@ and Himalay@. Bot@nic Roses uses the @-symbol to make its own varieties recognisable. This was no problem at all at the HortiFair, held recently in Amsterdam. Tenga Veng@ took first prize. So far the prices are also very good. The grower is currently the only one growing and marketing these roses and is now thinking very hard about how to continue in future. Producer colleagues at home and abroad are on his doorstep. However, at this moment in time the grower has not come to any decision about whether or not to supply his varieties to other growers under licence. If the decision is positive, the question still arises – will he do it himself or join forces with one of the well known and established rose breeders. Breeding roses is one thing, marketing and large-scale propagation – including putting in place controls against illegal propagation –– are something else again and far more complicated.
Existing Alstroemeria varieties difficult to beat
Leiden, March 2005 – Product innovation is a high priority subject as far as Dutch breeders are concerned. Sometimes they feel they are fighting a losing battle. This is the case when it comes to the red and white Alstroemeria assortment.
For years breeders have been doing their utmost to put a new red and a new white Alstroemeria on the market, that can compete with the ten-year old white ‘Virginia’ and the red ‘Granada’. The four Dutch Alstroemeria breeding operations; Hilverda, Könst, Preesman and Royal van Zanten (owner of ‘Virginia’ and ‘Granada’), have been trying for years but so far to no avail. It goes without saying that they all regularly launch new white and red varieties, but until now it has been impossible to dethrone the two ‘old-timers’.
The unconditional support of the Dutch growers and traders has contributed to the success stories of these two varieties. Growers sing the praises of the cultivars because of their tolerance of soil temperatures, their good reaction to assimilation lighting, their life expectancy (6 – 7 years is not exceptional), the huge productivity of ‘Virginia’ and the sturdy stems of ‘Granada’.
Wholesalers value both varieties for their easy availability and the fact that they can be cut while still relatively immature, giving the wholesalers a better time frame in which to trade.
Breeders anticipate that they could have the greatest success with a new red variety. Preesman has great hopes of the red ‘Passion’ (not to be confused with the red rose ‘Passion’, by the same breeder), while Hilverda aims to win the war with the red ‘Tiësto’. A new white variety will present much greater problems. All the varieties recently launched by the breeders in question, i.e. ‘Everest’ and ‘Finesse’ by Royal van Zanten, ‘Calgary’ and ‘Fuji’ by Könst, ‘Diamond’ by Hilverda and ‘Dame Blanche’ by Preesman, were unable to outshine Virginia. However, some of these varieties are doing very well in South America. In short: the consumer will have to be satisfied with the virtually invincible ‘Virginia’ for a while longer.
Breeder / wholesaler relations increasingly important
Leiden, March 2005 – We are seeing more and more breeders maintaining good contacts with wholesalers in a bid to gain information about how well their new varieties are doing. These contacts are beneficial to both parties.
Launching new products on the market is an increasingly expensive business and so it is essential for breeders to know as much as possible about the reactions of the wholesalers and retailers to their new varieties. Consequently contacts with these links in the distribution chain are crucial. Breeders, growers and traders all aim to profit from the varieties and are well aware of the fact that to do so, they need to meet the demands and wishes of the market. Traditionally breeders have focused on the growers profitability by launching products that are ‘well-behaved‘ in the production process.
Currently the focus extends to the consumer. Unfortunately however, research generally goes little further than the trade. Experience has shown that customers of Dutch exporters are difficult to motivate when new varieties are launched on the market. Generally speaking, ‘new’ is taken to mean a product that stands out from existing varieties. A great many ‘look alikes’ appear on the market, which tend to be an improvement on the older varieties in terms of production, but are not otherwise strikingly different. No matter how good they may be, these varieties will often fail to succeed because demand will not be transferred from a tried and trusted variety to a new one with no obvious distinguishing features.
All in all the life cycle of a cultivar is becoming shorter and shorter. Breeders do all they can to keep the life cycle as long as possible, for example by restricting supply volumes.
Cooperation within the distribution chain would appear to be the only way in which the assortment can be rejuvenated responsibly.
Lots of new cultivars registered
Aalsmeer, March 2005 – The number of registrations for new floricultural products continues to rise in the Netherlands. This is evidenced by statistics from the Permanent Judging Committee (VKC) in Aalsmeer, the body responsible for the correct registration of names for new floricultural products.
In 2004 almost 1200 new cut flowers were registered. Some of these were already on the market but were being sold at one of the flower and plant auctions under the ‘other codes’. In addition 177 flowering pot plants were registered along with 23 green plants.
Many more cut Gerberas were registered in the first few months and surprisingly new Freesias are also being registered on a regular basis.
The second quarter saw the registration of several lilies and peonies and a large group of potted dahlias accounted for a major proportion of the increase in the number of houseplants. A number of hydrangeas were registered in June.
Despite the rise in the number of registrations compared with 2003, the longer term retrospective shows a drop in the registration of new cut flowers.
One of the reasons for launching a large number of new products is to try to acquire the greatest possible market share. It also appears to be very difficult to comply with the demands of the market, simply because there is such a diversity of markets. Every country has its own consumer preferences, not to mention the huge differences in production conditions in the countries to which Dutch breeders export basic material. This means that the best a breeder can do is to produce the greatest number of varieties in a bid to meet the diversity of worldwide demand. As a rule the Dutch breeders tend to have something up their sleeves to suit every possible market.
Business News
This year Florema Youngplants BV, Aalsmeer (www.florema.nl) intends to launch two new Poinsettias. ‘Estrella Red’ is a new red Poinsettia with a sturdy plant structure, good branching and an attractive red colour. This variety will be introduced in 2005 to complement ‘Alreddy Red’, ‘Stargazer Red’, ‘Temptation Red’ and ‘Floristella Red’, which were first marketed in 2004.
Testing is also underway on a small volume of a new, green leafed, white Poinsettia cultivar that goes by the name of ‘Blizzard’. This is a well-branched plant and could easily become a match for ‘Regina’.
In 2005 Florema will also be launching a new range of Cyclamens. ‘MiniWella Twinkle’ is an homogeneous, rapid flowering range of Cyclamens with delicately sinuate flowers that add an exotic and unusual flair to the familiar Cyclamen. The series is suitable for 9 cm pots or possibly even smaller. This is in contrast to the existing ‘MiniWella’, which is suitable for 11 cm pots.
With this new type of Calocephalus, Florensis of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht (www.florensis.nl) has launched the first really compact form of Calocephalus: Calocephalus ‘Challenge’. The plant is also spherical and has silvery grey, needle-like leaves. It combines well with other plants.
Breeder Hilverda Plant Technology (www.hilverda.nl) of Aalsmeer has launched a new Alstroemeria. Mistique® is a white Alstroemeria with a yellow heart and lilac margin and has exceptionally large flowers. The cultivar was a nominee in the best novelty category at the last HortiFair.
Ball Holland (www.ballholland.com) of Rijsenhout has launched a new series of Coleus, which stands out because of the size of its leaves. The five new cultivars in the ‘Kong’ series can grow to a height of 55 cm in the garden, with leaves up to 30 cm in length. In recent years Coleus has seen an increasing return to popularity.
At the end of 2004 Ball Holland started to sell cushion Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum multiflora). An assortment has been put together with the help of top breeders Aurora varieties, the Chrysanthemum Breeders Association (CBA) Sunfield Holland and Gediflora. The complete range including product information and photographs can be found on the Ball Holland website.
A number of new rose varieties were introduced during the last HortiFair. Schreurs of de Kwakel (www.schreurs.nl) launched the scented ‘Orange Juice!’, with yellow/orange flamed blooms.
Olij Rozen BV, also of de Kwakel (www.olijrozen.nl) introduced ‘Arena’, a medium large flowered, ochre mutant of ‘El Toro’.
Hilverda (www.hilverda.nl) of Aalsmeer introduced the large lowered pink ‘Halloween’.
The Dutch rose breeder Lex+ (www.lex.nl) presented the large flowered, pink 'King Kong+’.
Preesman, Naaldwijk (www.preesman.nl), the number one winner with the ‘Passion’ rose assortment, has launched three new red cultivars: the deep red ‘Climax’, the dark, velvety red ‘First Love’ and the large flowered ‘Easy Lover’. According to Preesman a successor has not so far been found for ‘Passion’.
Anthura (www.anthura.nl), Bleiswijk has commenced on a worldwide promotion campaign for the white potted Anthurium ‘White Champion’, already popular in the Netherlands. Anthura intends to market this successful white potted Anthurium outside of N.W.-Europe.
Avo Anthurium Vogels (www.avo.nl), The Hague / Wateringen has cut a dash with the new Ferrari red ‘Floriana’. Its good vase life and high production capacity make this cultivar an excellent candidate to become what breeders call a ‘bread and butter’ variety. This year will see its market launch. According to breeder Avo Anthurium Vogels the equally new white ‘Isis’ is excellent for use in wedding flowers.
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