Rose hype Valentine's Day is the D-Day of the flower industry
On Valentine's Day, Swiss flower stores sell as many roses as they normally do in ten days. This puts pressure on the stores' workforce and resources. And the environment also pays a price.
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- On Valentine's Day, Swiss flower stores make as much turnover as on any other ten days. An estimated four million roses change hands on this day.
- Flower stores have to increase their staff and accept higher purchase prices for roses.
- The transportation of the roses, most of which come from Kenya or Ecuador, causes considerable emissions.
A bold statement: a large proportion of people buy flowers once a year to give to someone as a gift. These are roses and the day is February 14. Some also make do with the cut flowers they are given in the supermarket for this purpose.
This figure from SRF is on a firmer footing: The annual turnover of the Swiss flower industry is around 800 million francs. It generates 25 to 40 million on Valentine's Day. In other words: on the day of love, they generate as much turnover as on ten other days or even more.
Having the enormous quantity of flowers - primarily roses - ready in the stores and selling them on a single day is a test of endurance for the entire supply chain, from the importer to the wholesaler to the individual flower store.
Roses in winter
As a rose producer, Blumenhaus Mötteli in Turbenthal ZH would be in a prime position to make a big splash on Valentine's Day. But the managing director has the same problem as the flower industry in large parts of Europe: "Roses don't grow in winter," Helen Mötteli notes.
She would also offer her customers tulips in particular, she tells blue News. "But most of them want red roses, and if they don't get them from us, they go elsewhere."
Blumenhaus Mötteli devotes the days leading up to Valentine's Day to preparations. Placing orders, decorating the store in Turbenthal and the one in Bauma ZH, preparing the non-perishable ingredients for bouquets.
Cut flowers spoil quickly. That's why Helen Mötteli only collects the roses for February 14 from the wholesaler, Blumenbörse in Zurich, on February 13. There are 9 employees working in the stores on both days, compared to four normally. "We have a lot of part-time employees, they all have to work on these days," says Mötteli, describing how she manages the big day in terms of staffing.
The nursery is not so busy in winter, which is why the florists can use additional work space there, explains the Managing Director.
Valentine's roses from Ecuador and Kenya
The NZZ estimates that around four million roses change hands in Switzerland on Valentine's Day. With a few exceptions, they come from Kenya and Ecuador. Close to the equator at 2000 meters above sea level (Kenya) or even 3000 meters (Ecuador), they find ideal conditions all year round to develop large flower heads.
The flight to Europe entails considerable CO2 emissions - almost 6000 kilometers from Kenya and almost 10,000 from Ecuador. Heating and lighting greenhouses in Switzerland so that the roses can grow here would also have a negative impact on the environment, according to a paper by the Florists' Association on the effects of Valentine's Day.
A study commissioned by the Migros Cooperative Federation estimates that the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of Dutch roses are several times higher than those of their counterparts in Ecuador and Kenya, even if they arrive in Switzerland by air - which is the case for the vast majority of roses.
Greenhouses heated with renewable energy in the Netherlands have made progress in recent years, according to the Swiss Florists' Association. However, meeting European demand - 9,000 tons of roses according to Skynews - in this way remains a very ambitious goal.
In Ecuador and Kenya, rose cultures also require considerable amounts of water - in areas where water is scarce, as the Migros study notes. However, the water footprint of roses from the Netherlands is even greater. They require a lot of electricity for greenhouse heating and lighting, which is generated in hydroelectric power plants, among other places.
High turnover with a low margin
For Swiss flower stores, Valentine's Day is a business that they cannot afford to miss out on. However, the fact that they generate a significant proportion of their annual turnover on February 14 is contradicted by the figures above.
Thomas Meier from the Swiss Florists Association explains: "Of course the sales volumes are high, but the purchase prices per cut flower are much higher. The margin on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day is then much lower. In other words: certainly a lot of work, but not that much remains in the till."
Helen Mötteli estimates that a rose is up to 80 percent more expensive for the Valentine's business. On the other hand, they sell four to five times as much in their stores on February 14 as on other days.
For the Managing Director, the advertising effect is also important: "On that day, we have a lot of people in the store who don't normally come to us. We try to show them what else we have in our range apart from roses."
She can show them alternatives to the red roses - especially those that grow in her flower nursery even in winter. In addition to tulips, these include gerberas, ranunculus, carnations, anemones, daisies, poppies and more. If customers in Switzerland were to embrace other varieties, Valentine's Day would cause far fewer emissions - and bring producers like the florist in Turbenthal significantly more profit.
The other even less realistic option would be to move the day of love and bouquets of roses to a different date. Helen Mötteli would know when: "The end of June would be perfect. We could meet all the demand with our own roses."