50% decrease in plant exports from the Canary Islands
by Market Insider
Monday, 13 Apr. 2015
‘After seven years of crisis there has
been a considerable reduction in the number of companies within the flower and
plant subsector from the Canary Islands. Only some small and medium-sized
companies that could make use of their own resources and did not have high fixed
costs have endured during these years of economic recession. The exports dropped
by 50% in the last decade and this sector is facing a difficult moment’, said
Antonio López Cappa, managing director of the Association of Flower and Live
Plant Producers and Exporters of the Canaries (ASOCAN).
According to
López, ‘although the whole subsector has suffered due to the crisis, the
exporters were the most affected, because of two main factors: a) the complex
market situation together with the fierce competition of other countries, with
low production costs, and no phyto-sanitary or environmental regulations; and b)
the obstacles to export plant material from the Canaries (phytosanitary barriers
in the EU, rise of transport costs, reduction of the compensation to the
transport of goods, reduction of the logistics offer to the EU, new safety
taxes, increase of the fuel price, etc.).’
López added that ‘we don't have
enough institutional support to endure and grow’.
The figures of the
subsector's production value describe the current situation:
‘Ten years
ago, the production value was around 70 million €, from which more than 65% was
bound for export; that is to say, the value of plants, cuttings and cut flowers
for export was worth more than 45 million €. Currently, the production value of
the ornamental sector from the Canaries is more than 50 million €, which is
divided in almost equal parts between the local and the foreign market. We have
lost 20 million euros worth of production bound for export in the last ten
years, which is almost half of the total’.
López highlighted that
the best clients are located in the ‘well-known markets in which our products
are appreciated and where we have already established logistics, such as in
Germany, Holland and France’.
‘Although we obtained interesting
results researching new markets, such as Dubai and West Africa –where our
products were highly appreciated–, the uncertainties with regard to
phyto-sanitary barriers and the complexities of logistics have discouraged some
companies to explore these new markets’, he added.
Source: Hortibiz /
El Día