Colombia, the main U.S. flower provider, will export more than 500 million flowers for Valentine's Day

Flowers Create Opportunities For Nearly 200,000 Colombians and Support American Businesses

BOGOTA, Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valentine's Day flowers have long been a symbol of love but today, more than ever, they represent prosperity for both growers and retailers.  For the past few months nearly 200,000 Colombians directly or indirectly employed in the flower industry have been diligently working to get ready for the most important floral holiday of the year.  Valentine's Day generates an estimated 12 percent of annual sales.  Additionally, U.S. floral retailers are also getting ready to receive, arrange and deliver millions of Colombian-grown flowers.

Augusto Solano, President of Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, pointed out that, in order to meet the consumer demand for this major holiday, Colombia will dispatch over 500 million flowers on 30 daily flights in the days leading up to this holiday. The beautiful blooms, primarily roses and farm-made bouquets, are destined for many international markets, particularly the United States, Canada and select European countries.

Solano said, "We are once again on the threshold of the most important season for our industry.  Colombian flower growers stand firm in their commitment to supply a wide variety of high-quality flowers for this important occasion to more than 43,000 florists and supermarkets in the United States." 

Mr. Solano added that around 80 percent of all the flowers currently imported to the United States are from Colombia and account for almost two-thirds of all flowers sold in the U.S. "We hope consumers keep on buying Colombian flowers as their ideal Valentine's Day gift to express their love and friendship," he continued.

Sustainable Flowers
Colombia is one of the flower-producing countries that has made the greatest strides in social and environmental achievements. Over the past several years, the Asocolflores' member flower growers have made significant socio-environmental advances through Florverde®, an independent certification process created in 1996 in pursuit of providing solutions for improving the quality of life of floriculture workers, preserving and protecting the environment, and ensuring the highest production standards. Additionally, in 2011, almost 90,000 workers benefitted from social programs made possible by Colombian flower industry investment of over $9 million.

Contact:
Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, Asocolflores:
Jairo Cadavid: jcadavid@asocolflores.org
Ingrid Romero: comunicaciones@asocolflores.org
Tel: 57 1 – 257 9311, Ext: 0160 – 0115, Bogotá, Colombia

SOURCE Asocolflores

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http://www.asocolflores.org