Julia Roberts to receive recognition from Colombian flower growers

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fifteen thousand roses from Colombia will be part of the premiere activities for the movie, Valentine's Day, thanks to Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters.

Julia Roberts and her co-stars in the timely release by New Line Cinema productions, including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher and Jamie Foxx, will each receive a stunning bouquet of Colombian flowers. And the theater itself will be adorned with thousands of beautiful roses. In addition, over 5,000 fresh roses will be given out to fans and onlookers outside the premiere venue, as a sharing of the love of flowers from Colombia, land of flowers with Hollywood.

Roses, Colombia's flagship product, and other flower types generate over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs in Colombia, and annual foreign exchange of over one billion dollars. "Valentine's Day is one of the most important floral holidays," said Augusto Solano, president of Asocolflores. He added, "For Valentine's Day 2010, Colombian producers are exporting more than 500 million flowers, mainly to the United States."

KEY FIGURES OF THE COLOMBIAN FLORICULTURE

Total Export Sales (2008): U.S.$ 1.094 billion

Valentine's Day Sales (as a percent of total year): 12%

Number of Colombian flowers being shipped for Valentine's Day 2010: 500 million

Number of daily flights of flowers from Colombia to the US for Valentine's Day: an average of 28 flights per day

Number of US florists and supermarkets selling flowers for Valentine's Day: 43,000

Jobs generated by flowers in Colombia (2008): 200,000 direct and indirect

SOURCE Association of Colombian Flower Exporters

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