Flower business blooms as consumers make it everyday item

"In the past, people mostly bought fresh flowers as gifts. Nowadays, fresh flowers are more easily available. For instance, I buy fresh flowers to decorate my house all year round," said a woman from Beijing surnamed Song.

People buy fresh flowers at the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

The abundant supply of fresh flowers in China and consumers' growing demand for high-quality flowers have given a boost to the country's fresh flower market.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province is a major flower growing region in the country. From Jan. 24 to Feb. 8, the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center, located in the provincial capital Kunming, saw its trade volume of fresh flowers reach 56.42 million, up nearly 40 percent year on year.

Chen Lin, owner of a flower shop in Beijing, explained that in the past, the shop mainly sold imported flowers. After doing research into the fresh flower market in Yunnan, the shop decided to purchase flowers there. Chen said his shop has been able to sell between 50,000 yuan ($7,335) and 100,000 yuan of flowers in recent days.

Yang Yuyong, who has been in the flower industry for more than 30 years, said that in the past, there were just a few flower shops and the price of fresh flowers was very high. Today, however, buying flowers has become an everyday consumption item for many people.

A deliveryman packs flowers. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

"Buying fresh flowers to decorate homes has become a flower consumption trend," said Fei Xuemei, vice chairman of the Retail Trade Branch of China Flower Association, who added that with the "romance economy" continuing to grow, consumers' demand for high-quality flowers has increased year by year.

The Dounan Flower Market has seen its average daily wholesale volume of fresh flowers approach 30 million in recent days. But how can these fresh flowers be brought quickly to consumers?

According to Yang Jinglei, who is in charge of providing guarantees for flower transportation under the Yunnan Branch of Chinese logistics giant SF Express, the company has established a transportation backup team and deployed all-cargo freighter planes and cold chain logistics vehicles to ensure that the fresh flowers can reach consumers in as quickly as 24 hours after they are picked from the fields.

Five years ago, Guantun community in Guantun township of Yao'an county in Yunnan started to promote flower planting. Last year, the local fresh flower industry generated 1.5 million yuan for the community.

Credible sources show that in 2022, Yunnan supplied more than 17 billion fresh flowers to the market.

Zhang Fang, an official from the provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs, explained that Yunnan has strengthened the construction of flower industrial clusters and pushed forward the development of the rural flower industry in a bid to revitalize its rural areas. At present, there are over 140,000 households engaged in flower planting in Yunnan, and they can earn a total of more than 7 billion yuan a year.

A woman prunes roses inside a rose industrial park in Malong district, Qujing city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)