Floriculture world wide; production, trade and consumption patterns show market opportunities and challenges

Floricultural production contains a wide variety of products. The production value world wide has been rising from 11 billion to 60 billion dollars in 2003 (estimate). Europe is traditionally a large producer and trader, with a stable production value of about 10 billion dollars (2002). North America has a production value of about 6,5 billion dollars. In Asia production capacity is growing rapidly in several countries. In Africa the production has emerged enormously, but in a risky environment. Oceania is a small producer.Looking a inter- and intra continental trade in 2002 the following view occurs. Europe and USA have the largest intra continental trade. Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe export to these continents. Of the existing markets USA has emerged the last decade. Further more the consumption per capita has been rising due to rise of income and developments in culture in countries in Europe, USA and Japan. Asia and Easter Europe have big potential as new markets because the level of prosperity is rising. Totally the worldwide demand has grown. For high volume bulky product we see a South-North pattern. For high quality product there are niche markets world wide. While we see the international trade increasing, the regional supply will be leading. Parallel WTO liberalises the world trade, non-trade barriers occur. This, together with changing from a product driven to a demand driven market, requires strategies for market access. Co-operation in supply chains offers possibilities.