Prices up,cut flowers not smelling as sweet

With the wedding season,cut flowers like roses,gerbera and carnations have become really expensive. At the whole sale market itself,roses are selling at Rs 60 per bunch -– each bunch has 20 roses. Typically,these flowers are sold at traffic junctions and other retail outlets at higher rates – although the number of people selling at traffic junctions has reduced drastically of late.

“It will be high because it is the wedding season. These days,most people prefer cut flowers for weddings as opposed to traditional flowers like chrysanthemum and marigold. As a result there has been a lot of demand for cut flowers in the last few years,” said Arun Veer,a wholesale market trader. In retail,all these flowers are being sold for Rs 160 per bunch while in the wholesale market it is Rs 60 per bunch.

After the peak wedding season in November end,traders are also looking forward to Christmas and New Year,where cut flowers sell for high rates. While orchids are priced at Rs 120 a bunch,carnations are up to Rs 80 per bunch at the wholesale market,gerberas are also priced at Rs 70 per bunch. Traders say these price lines are typical for November and December,but this year the harvest has been lower than previous years because of poor rains in the beginning of the season and untimely rains in September. Cut flowers are also being sent to the Southern states like Hyderabad,which reduces,supply for the Pune market. “Last week,we sent a maximum flowers to Hyderabad as the rates were higher in that market,” said a trader.