View on November

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 media coverage and his experiences at the Trade Fair Aalsmeer, among other things.

Market image

In October, both cut flowers and indoor and garden plants showed a plus compared to last year. For plants, unfortunately, it still remains very thin. Revenues are lagging well behind cost trends. Even in flowers, despite a good average increase in prices, there are products that do not yield enough for growers in terms of pricing.

Image of ornamental plant cultivation

In recent weeks, we as Ornamental Horticulture have made the news several times in an undesirable way. The coverage from France was about the danger of plant protection products when working unprotected with flower stems. Within RFH, we have very clear safety instructions for flower processing, and these were shared with growers and trade last year. As an industry, we must always put safety first throughout the chain. One action that really caught people off guard was the council decision in Zutphen to ban flowers. Unsubstantiated, flowers are dismissed as a ‘bouquet of poison’. Journalists often take it blindly without delving into the matter. Otherwise, they would have known that huge strides have been made in recent years in terms of certification, sustainability and use of organic crop protection. The sector is really being wronged. We ourselves will have to provide the ingredients for a proper discussion. At the same time, we as a sector must continue unabated to implement our plans in the area of sustainability, including certification. We are discussing a joint approach with other sector parties, including Bloemenbureau Holland, Glastuinbouw Nederland, VGB/handel and VBW, among others. We will take swift action.

Labour productivity growth lags behind

CBS recently reported that the growth of Dutch labour productivity lags behind other countries. This is a worrying development. Incidentally, the RFH strategy is precisely aimed at improving labour productivity in Ornamental Horticulture. As a floriculture chain, we need to work more efficiently, and RFH's new services are precisely the ones that are fully geared up for this. Think also of the new logistics and the possibilities offered by Floriway. It does mean that we have to do it more together as a sector.

Trade Fair Aalsmeer

The TFA was another great networking event and a wonderful calling card for the sector and ourselves. Its success is underlined by the number of some 650 exhibitors and an equalling record number of visitors of over 21,000. Over 1/3 of these were international. I myself had a very full agenda with many conversations with both growers and buyers. What struck me this year was the entrepreneurial attitude and that many are very much concerned with the future and with the investments needed for that. For everyone it is very exciting how the market is developing. I understood from various quarters that the market for green plants and succulents is very difficult at the moment. As I mentioned above, this also applies to some flower crops. Growers, RFH and buyers will have to operate carefully together to realise the most optimal price for our beautiful product. Nobody can afford to make a structural loss. Part of the cost increase can be absorbed with optimisation, but we cannot escape increasing the consumer price to cope with the large increase in costs.
News about Floriway

We recently brought the news that Royal FloraHolland has acquired all the shares of Floriway. This puts us fully at the helm ourselves. I am confident that under the leadership of Marc Goudzwaard we will continue the line of the past months and Floriway will fulfil its promises to the market. The closer cooperation with RFH will certainly bear fruit.