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View on September

September 11, 2024

Preview Steven van Schilfgaarde 3

In a new series, we give the floor to CEO Steven van Schilfgaarde. Once every four weeks, he gives his view on the past period. This time, he talks more about the pricing of the past few weeks, the reputation of ornamental horticulture and much more.

Pricing

The past few weeks have been characterised by very good flower pricing, with the caveat that supplies of roses and some other products were considerably lower than last year. The weather in Africa clearly played tricks on the rose. Plant pricing lagged disappointingly, accompanied by disappointing sales on the clock. Overall, the volume decline was higher than the average in the previous months. I hope plant supply will recover in the rest of the year. The same goes for lagging flower varieties.

Reputation ornamentals

Good pricing means there is still a lot of demand for our products. But the reputation of floriculture requires constant attention. Targeted sector communication is needed to feed positive perceptions and be resilient in case of negative reports. Recent media coverage of the discharge of banned substances into surface water and the use of migrant workers with falsified papers show how vulnerable we are. Both within greenhouse horticulture and ornamental horticulture, we work closely with all relevant sector organisations. For instance, I had a constructive introductory meeting with the new chairman of the KAVB. The outside world looks at us as floriculture or greenhouse horticulture and doesn't care about how we are organised. That is why we have to keep the ranks closed and work together and strengthen each other.

Consultation certification scheme

In August, the consultation for the certification scheme for ‘Small-scale Growers’ took place under the banner of FSI. Sustainability in the broadest sense is very important to future-proof our sector. One initiative where steps were taken last month is the introduction of the Euro Plant Tray (EPT). This new reusable plant tray should further reduce plastic waste. EPT is important in the context of making the sector further sustainable.

Floriday

Within Royal FloraHolland, we are working hard to optimise both our digital platform and our logistics platform. Floriday is crucial within this. To be successful together, all partners in the chain need to take steps in digitalisation. That's the path to making the chain more efficient. Users are increasingly seeing Floriday's opportunities and possibilities. Based on users' input and wishes, the Floriday team is constantly adding functions or improving existing applications. The covenant we recently signed with trading companies is an important impetus for a thriving future for Floriday and thus the industry.

Select Delivery

An example of a new logistics function is Select Delivery in Floriday. With it, the buyer determines the delivery time. He can specify the time period he wants to activate per day, product and buyer plate. Since 3 September, buyers in both Rijnsburg and Naaldwijk have been at the controls themselves thanks to Select Delivery in Floriday. In a dashboard in Floriday, the buyer can adjust the time slots for the upcoming week at any time of the day. Another important logistical milestone is the start of order picking plants at our hub in Aalsmeer. So much for this first impression. Next time, we will cover other topics.