To help the slumping flower market amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taipei City Government, the Agriculture and Food Agency and the Taipei Flower Market have collaborated to produce a standing exhibition.
Taipei Flowers Auction Co on Saturday said that it has invited three teams to establish separate exhibitions at Shilin Official Residence Park, Daan Forest Park and Taipei Expo Park.
The exhibitions, which began on Saturday and are to run through May 27, take the form of “window shopping,” with flowers being placed behind protective glass so that they cannot be affected by the weather or other factors, the company said.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The exhibition would rotate through a range of flowers with different themes every week, to simulate the seasonal change of merchandise at department stores, it said.
Mandarin Florist International Co deputy chief executive officer Chang Yi-chung (章譯中) said that the nation’s flower market is looking at a 30 percent decrease in sales due to the pandemic.
“The project will bring people closer to flowers and could perhaps stimulate the market,” he said.
Most of the exhibited flowers are in-season and can easily be obtained at floral shops, Chang said, adding that a fresh bouquet at home would help uplift the spirit.
Along with the National Floral Industry Association Union, the Agriculture and Food Agency would be putting on an exhibition at outdoor scenic spots across the nation.
The exhibition began on Saturday at the Taipei Expo Park. It is to end there on Thursday next week.
It is then to move to the Love Pier (真愛碼頭) in Kaohsiung from Friday next week to May 16, and to Taichung’s Caowu Square (草悟廣場) from June 3 to 18, the agency said.
Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) said that the floral market was worth NT$16.5 billion (US$548 million at the current exchange rate) last year, with exports valued at NT$6.6 billion.
While a majority, or 60 percent, of floral consumption is domestic, the agency is hoping to further stimulate domestic consumption, Hu said.
Collaborations with Pxmart and Funcom Supermarket have seen considerable returns, he said.
The agency is also offering a 50 percent discount on bouquets of pre-selected domestically grown flowers, selling them for NT$150 at branches of the Taiwan Florists’ Transworld Delivery Association, Hu said.
The agency has already sold 10,000 bouquets and aims to sell 20,000 more in the hopes of stimulating the market, he added.
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