Lockdown a setback but pandemic offers flower industry a silver lining
Not everyone within Victoria’s flower industry has been left reeling from a snap lockdown coinciding with Valentine’s Day.
A SNAP lockdown has left Victoria’s flower industry in the lurch, but for some growers, a global pandemic has led to better returns and a new-found demand for their Australian-grown blooms.
The announcement of a five-day lockdown forbidding face-to-face retail sales on the eve of Valentine’s Day forced bricks and mortar florists and the wholesalers who supply them to tip millions of dollars worth of flowers into landfill.
But for many growers who sell to florists with an online platform, it was another sellout Valentine’s Day.
Mick Allen, who grows glasshouse roses in Monbulk, said his stockists shifted to click and collect sales and deliveries, and were sold out by the end of Saturday.
“The florists I spoke to had an absolute cracker. Weddings and events were cancelled so there were lots of returns of imported flowers … but I had people messaging me for flowers on Sunday,” he said.
Mr Allen said while the latest lockdown was a blow for some, particularly in the events space, after recovering from the initial shock of COVID-19 in March last year, Australian flower growers have since thrived.
Prices of imported flowers, and roses in particular, have climbed due to a shortage of international flights, which has led domestic growers to bump up their own prices.
Mr Allen said his prices have jumped about 50 per cent, while he has never witnessed such an appetite for locally grown stock.
“The flower industry is flourishing, whether you’re a grower or a florist. It’s just easy to sell flowers at the moment because people are admiring them at home. And we don’t see this changing for the next two to three years because of COVID,” he said.
Central Victorian garden rose grower Kristy Tippett was unable to capitalise on demand for Australian-grown flowers last year with a season that runs from November until May. But the pandemic had forced her to diversify away from weddings, and for the first time the business opened a pop-up shop in nearby Ballarat in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, “which was really well received”.
Flower Industry Australia director Sal Russo that while restrictions forbidding events have hurt the industry, flower sales – and particularly of those grown locally – have significantly increased.
“One of the things that has been extraordinary, when humanity is going through stressful conditions, it seems we have an increase in flower sales. Even in the Great Depression flower sales went up,” Mr Russo said.
He said a new awareness of providence has led to demand for Australian-grown over imported flowers.
“There’s been a major shift in the way Australians buy flowers. Up until two years ago, no one had any idea that up to 70 per cent of flowers came from overseas. Due to COVID, people are starting to ask, ‘where do my flowers come from?’,” he said.
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