As China gears up for a string of festive celebrations in the run-up to the traditional Spring Festival holiday in late January and early February, the vibrant explosion of flower sales has turned the market into a colorful frenzy.
As the Dounan Flower Market in southwest China's Yunnan Province enters the annual peak season, waves of consumers flock to the largest fresh-cut flower trading market in Asia to purchase blooms.
Leading the charge are festive favorites like moth orchids, holly, and boat orchids, captivating buyers with their seasonal charm.
"I've come here to buy flowers for the occasion of the New Year holiday, and the moth orchids here are really beautiful," said Lai Xiaohong, a flower buyer.
In the first three quarters of this year, 1.5 billion flowers were sold in bulk orders, a 15-percent increase over the same period of the previous year, data from the the Kunming Flower Auction Trading Center showed.
As the festive season approaches, bulk order sales are expected to grow further.
While the offline flower market is thriving, flower sales on e-commerce platforms are also seeing explosive growth, driven by the expanded flower industry in Yunnan.
In a live-streaming park in the provincial capital Kunming, a flower trader named Zhang Yihao and his team have seen their orders skyrocket recently.
"In November, we had about 50,000 to 60,000 orders per day on average. Now, it's close to 100,000 orders per day, mainly driven by the rising demand for New Year flowers," Zhang said.
Since starting up his business in 2022, Zhang said that the flower quality has got better due to the more use of agricultural facilities in the flower industry.
Data show that Yunnan's flower acreage reached 130,000 hectares in 2023, with 23,000 hectares for fresh-cut flowers, producing 18.97 billion flowers. Seven out of every ten fresh-cut flowers in China come from Yunnan.
The high flower output is attributable to modernization of the flower industry and the scale planting. Yao'an, a major flower-growing area in Yunnan, boasts over 30 flower planting bases, all adopting soil-less culture and equipped with irrigation and temperature control systems.
Yunnan also standardizes the flower sorting and packaging to upgrade its flower industry.
Along with the thriving flower market at home, the flower export business prospered in the first 11 months of this year.
According to the Kunming Customs, the exports of fresh-cut flowers from Yunnan reached 670 million yuan (92 million U.S. dollars) from January to November this year, a 34.5 percent year-on-year increase.
The boat orchid is one of those that have found its international buyers, and that been exported to Australia.
"The boat orchid is a major New Year flower in China, and a high-end flower for the Christmas overseas. So we export them to Australia," said Zhang Biao, head of a flower provider.
In addition to orders from Oceania, fresh-cut flowers are also exported to countries such as Russia and Japan.
"The export has been particularly flourishing. In particular, the number of customers from Russia and Kazakhstan, and other countries on the routes of the Belt and Road has increased substantially. In comparison with the same period of last year, the number of customers has grown by more than 15 percent and the number of orders has risen by 20 percent," said Wang Pengcheng, head of a flower producer.
Flower sales bloom in China as New Year holiday season approaches
