Mother’s Day is around the corner, but the price of carnations — the floral symbol of the occasion — has remained unusually weak because of a production glut, agricultural sources said yesterday.
Wang Chih-hsiung, a flower farmer in Changhua County’s Tianwei Township (田尾), said the price of locally produced carnations rose to a high of NT$70 to NT$80 per 10-stem bunch around Mother’s Day last year.
Encouraged by such profitability, many Changhua farmers switched to planting carnations this season, with the total area exceeding last year’s level by more than 50 percent.
PHOTO: WANG PAI-LIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
“Expanded plantation has led to an oversupply and a resulting severe price slump,” Wang said.
Wholesale prices hover around NT$20 a bunch, with some falling to a low of NT$15 at the nation’s five flower auction markets.
“Such prices can hardly cover production costs, not to mention profits for growers,” Wang said.
With just two weeks to go before Mother’s Day, which falls on May 11 this year, many blooming carnations are left untended on farms in Tianwei, one of Taiwan’s major floral centers.
The plight of “the more flowers plucked, the more money lost,” coupled with a staffing shortage, has discouraged flower farmers from cutting mature carnations, Wang said.
With a number of unsold carnations in his inventory, Wang said he doesn’t expect prices to rebound to last year’s level in two weeks.
“Wholesale prices will fluctuate between NT$50 and NT$60 at most,” he said.
To help promote carnation sales, Changhua County Councilor Liu Shu-fang (劉淑芳) launched a campaign on Tuesday urging government agencies, corporations and civic groups to buy more locally grown carnations to celebrate Mother’s Day. The Tianwei Township government will also organize a promotional program this weekend to boost carnation sales.
Wang and many flower farmers in the county, however, said they would like the government to assist them in transforming their farms into tourist gardens, with visitors allowed to pick fresh carnations on their own as a form of recreation and an inexpensive way to enjoy the beauty of fresh carnations.
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