Yunnan's flower industry wilting

By Peng Yining (China Daily)

Updated: 2010-03-26 07:04

Drought inflicts further damage on province

KUNMING - The severe drought in Southwest China has seriously affected Yunnan's flower industry - one of the chief industries in the province.

As a result of no rain over the past eight months, both the quantity and quality of flowers have declined, while their prices have soared.

Small flower farms have been especially hard hit and are suffering heavy losses due to a lack of irrigation water. In contrast, large flower farms that use water-saving drip irrigation systems to guarantee their yields are making a fortune from the higher prices they are able to command as a result of flowers being in short supply.

"The flower industry is very dependent on the weather. Only moderate precipitation brings good yield and quality flowers," said Jiang Kaiyun, a 48-year old flower merchant.

Every day he purchases flowers at the Kunming Dounan Flower Market, which will then be shipped for sale in Shanghai. The price of baby's-breath has increased to 30 yuan ($4.4) per kg from 10 yuan and the price of roses has increased by 15 percent, Jiang said.

"I used to buy 10,000 flowers a day, but I can now only afford fewer. The price of every single flower in Shanghai has also increased," he said.

"Compared with previous years, on Valentine's Day this year flowers were a luxury. The price has reached the highest level now, I think," Jiang said.

"This is the first time the flower industry in Yunnan has suffered such a big blow," said Li Ban, manager of the Dounan Flower Market, Asia's largest.

According to Li, last year, the market sold a total of 400 million yuan of flowers, with 3 million flowers being sold a day at its peak. But this year, the market has sold, at most, 1.4 million flowers a day.