Prices forced tulips to take nosedive on Dutch auctions

BOVENKARSPEL – The bottom seems to have dropped out from under the market for forced tulips in the Netherlands. At auctions the tulips are being sold for prices far below the cost of forcing them, with a part of the supply being dumped to stem the value drop. This development, partially caused by innovation in forcing techniques, which allows for a rising volume per greenhouse footage, resulting in greater quantities arriving at the flower auctions while at the same time the demand remained relatively flat. This turn of event is having a sobering effect on a flowering bulb trade which only recently was very optimistic about its future. Trade organization KAVB cautions that not all is lost this year. Growers were getting good prices only a short time ago. Forcing techniques enable growers to supply (potted) tulips in a controlled production cycle outside the natural season.