The flower industry works like a simple value chain: growers grow flowers, suppliers source them, then the flowers are sold to retailers or wholesalers before consumers buy them in bunches or bouquets. It sounds very simple, except that the people involved come from all over the world. Most of the flower industry’s products are grown in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, with the Netherlands as the largest trading center and Germany as the main market for imports.

Cut flowers exported from the Netherlands to Germany are the main component of the international flower industry and also a significant part of the European trade, which alone accounts for a large part of world trade. In the American continents, Colombia is the main supplier of the United States. Japan draws its supply of cut flowers from a more diverse base, with New Zealand, Europe, the Philippines and Taiwan being the most important.

The Netherlands has been the center of the international flower trade since the 1950s. The secret to its leading position in the industry is an efficient trading system that makes it easy to send flowers around the world. The flowers are imported from growers in South America, Australia, Africa and Asia and assembled at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, the largest market for buying and selling floriculture products. This allows the flower industry to overcome the problem of wholesalers not being able to import directly from flower-producing countries.

On the supplier side, the flower industry is dominated by a few major players who are also a group of interrelated companies with their own specialization and export markets. Dutch Flower Group is the world’s largest flower supplier with companies located in Western Europe and Africa. The other major supplier in the European market is the Zurel Group, with a turnover of more than 150 million dollars. Both the Dutch Flower Group and the Zurel Group have three divisions dealing with wholesale, import and retail.

The advantages of these large groups are quite clear, since their sub-companies carry out the production and distribution process throughout the year. They also offer discounts on the purchase of flowers through marketing strategies such as flower sales, flower coupons and other customer-focused offers, which save the customer money and allow them to buy larger volumes of flowers.

In addition to flowers, flower companies also export accessories such as foliage (bouquet fillers), flower foam, corsage supplies, artificial foliage, vases, and ribbons. Other important accessories that are purchased are packaging equipment for the transfer of perishable fresh flowers. These include flower mats, flower sheets, and ice packs. One of the largest suppliers of flower accessories in Europe is a member of the Dutch Flower Group called Cold and Fresh International.