Mostly flowers have got through a long journey before adorning our vase. Only every fifth flower comes from German greenhouses. Because of the climatic advantages most flowers are cultivated in Africa and Latin America and come to the German market by plane directly or via flower auctions in the neighbouring European countries. In 2005 the direct imports of flowers came primary from Kenya (18.8 %), followed by Colombia (14.6 %) and Israel (13.7 %). Ecuador and Ethiopia come directly beneath (12.4 % and 7.2 % respectively).

 

90 Percent of the imports come through the Netherlands. The sales of Dutch flowers in Germany were about € 900 Million in 2005. With a worth of about € 1,125 Milliards (wholesale prices)

 

Germany is the forth biggest demand market for cut flowers worldwide. Most consumers prefer the flower shop for buying. But also the market-garden, the garden centre and the weekly market are considered to be good places for buying flowers. Altogether about 60 % of all purchases are being sold there. More than 35 % of all bunches are sold in grocer’s shops of which more than two third can be assigned to the discounters.

 

Compared to the rest of Europe, Germany is still in the top group referring to the consumption of flowers. In 2007 nearly every second consumer bought flowers at least once and spended 38 Euro on that. By a wide margin the rose (35 percent) still leads the popularity scale followed by tulips (11 percent), gerbera (7 percent) und lilies.