PETALING JAYA: This year’s Valentine’s Day and its Chinese equivalent will fall over two consecutive days, but many may have to think twice about expressing their love to their dear ones with flowers – those blooms are going to be very dear.
A global shortage, said to be unprecedented, is driving up prices of blooms at a time when the world celebrates the annual day of love and its Chinese equivalent (Chap Goh Meh, the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year) on Feb 14 and 15, respectively.
Cameron Highlands Floriculturists Association president Lee Peng Fo said the pre-pandemic import price for 24 stalks of roses was around RM25, and the wholesale price was about RM40.
During a high-demand season such as Valentine’s Day, the price could shoot up to RM40 and RM70 respectively, he added.
“But now, prices have gone through the roof by another 50%.
“We have been through flower shortages before when a stalk of rose was sold for up to RM15. However, the global shortage now is quite unprecedented,” he said.Lee noted that local production has also been reduced as many flower farmers resorted to diversifying their crops by growing vegetables to survive the pandemic.
When the country underwent a lockdown from June 1 last year, flower farmers were forced to dump hundreds of tonnes of produce when no lorries were allowed to transport them out of the farms.
The Star previously reported that the movement restrictions and lockdowns last year had resulted in losses of over RM60mil to these farmers.
Cameron Highlands, which exports 90% of its floriculture products, is also one of the world’s major exporters of cut flowers, said Lee.
He said things changed for Malaysia and many other flower-producing nations following the pandemic, which led to the current global shortage.
Malaysian floriculture produce for both domestic and export markets includes roses, gerberas, carnations, sunflowers, baby’s breath, hydrangeas, cut leaves and decorative plants.
The imported ones come from countries like China, Kenya, Ecuador, India and Holland.
However, Lee does not expect wholesale and retail prices to be raised too high, given fears of negative consumer response.
According to florists, the selling prices for local flowers have risen between 10% and 20%, and by 30% to 40% for imported ones.
Jack Tham, the owner of Tang Chao Florist at Taman Ungku Tun Aminah in Johor Baru, said most florists offer imported roses for Valentine’s Day due to insufficient local supply.
“The import prices for roses and other flowers have shot up by between 20% and 40% since last month, so an adjustment in the selling price is inevitable,” he said.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, buyers forked out about RM110 for a standard bouquet of five roses with some baby’s breath during Valentine’s season in 2020.
“Today, it will be RM130 to RM140 depending on the source country and rose species.
“Of course, factors like the business location, fixed costs and other variables will affect each florist’s pricing,” he said.
The higher prices, he added, were due to the global supply chain issues that resulted from the pandemic.
Interestingly, a florist in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur, has instead chosen to close from Feb 12 to 15 to avoid a further price surge amid an anticipated massive demand.
“Flower prices are incredibly high and will get higher leading to Valentine’s Day.
“There is a global shortage and there will be a further surge,” it said on its Facebook page.
Having been absorbing a fair bit of the price difference in the past two years, it also said it cannot keep passing on the cost to the clients.
“To be clear, we arrived at this decision after careful planning and consideration,” it added.
Melaka’s Alice Florist’s Chua Sok Teng, on the other hand, said they will strive to absorb some costs to keep prices reasonable.
Although orders have been encouraging this year for the “double Valentine’s Day”, Chua said the traditional Feb 14 seems to be the more popular day.
“More than half of our consumers spend between RM200 and RM300 for a bouquet, whereas 20% of them prefer bigger ones costing RM400 to RM500,” she said.