restructuring of Dole Fresh Flowers

[mlou]

Colombian Union Fights for Flower Farm...

A slump in flower prices and new competition from China and Africa was forcing a major restructuring of Dole Fresh Flowers, the letter said. As part of the cost-cutting, the company was closing two of its 13 farms and laying off a third of its workforce in Colombia, some 2,600 employees in all.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4269503.html

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[mlou]

Here is part of that competition...

Dubai Flower Centre (DFC) well-poised to tap the USD1-billion Indian floriculture export market

The Dubai Flower Centre (DFC), the only state-of-the-art transshipment facility for perishable goods in the region, is well poised to tap the Indian flower export market which is expected to exceed AED3.67 billion (USD1 billion) by 2010.

http://www.ameinfo.com/99358.html

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[sfox]

some should tell them

Someone should tell Columbia and Eucador welcome to the big leagues. All this time both countries were always thought of as third world developing nations. Now they rate right up there with America.

You know. The America that closes factories and moves production off shore because we have to sell the stuff for ever and ever lower prices. Those workers in Columbia and Eucador rate right up there with the American auto worker and American auto parts suppliers or that fact airline workers.

And isn't the standard response is all they need is retraining and additional schooling? And all Dole is doing per the standard response is maximizing shareholder value.

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

Yes sfox...there is an old saying in my part of the world..."what will make you laugh, will make you cry..."

Globalization v2.0

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

c'mon guys.....

this is serious stuff.......
ANY threat to our supply stream could have huge implications for ALL of us.....
Dole is HUGE......

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

Mikey, you are right...

I guess we all better start brushing up on our Chinese, because if they can provide me a better product at a better price, I can't wait to start buying from them. It's nice that BabelFish translates English to traditional AND simple Chinese.

我希望定□5 個箱子60cm 紅色玫瑰, 請。

(I would like to order 5 half-boxes of 60cm red roses, please)

That's business, right?

 

[sfox]

mikey

It looks like this Jan Eucuadorian flowers will have a 12 1/2% duty placed on them because they did not get a renewal of their free trade agreement with the US. This will probably price Eucadorian flowers out of the market and open the door for the Chinese.

It's yet to be seen what will happen to supplies

 

[CHR]

One of my friends tested Chinese roses about a month ago. He said the packaging was so tight that the heads were literally square. They also arrive without variety labels and the importer could not assure him he'd be able to get the same varieties - only that the flowers could be ordered by color. As you know, not all red roses are the same red so this presents a big problem when ordering for a large scale event.

My friend, who uses hundreds of thousands of roses every year, returned the entire shipment due to poor quality.

 

[Rock]

I wonder what happens with the new 12.5% US duty re Canada? Normally goods destined for Canada would travel 'in bond' through the US OR the US importer could get a refund on duties paid upon re-export then whatever duties (if any) are assessed by Canada would apply. Does anyone know???

 

[mlou]

here's another one having problems with the changing world market...

Dutch flower auctions to join forces

AMSTERDAM: The world's two biggest flower auctions, both based in the Netherlands, have decided to join forces to strengthen their global market position, the companies said on Thursday.

FloraHolland, the world's number one flower auction, and the Aalsmeer flower auction together process around 13 million flowers and plants per day and had sales of 3.7 billion euros ($4.68 billion) in 2005, the firms said.

"The Dutch flower sector is under pressure by international developments," they said, adding that florists and traders increasingly meet outside the sales, threatening the global position of the auctions.

"The auctions have difficulties selling flowers grown and flown in from Africa," a spokeswoman said. "At the moment we lack scale and our costs are too high," she added.

They hope to cut costs through the merger, which is expected to be concluded before 2008.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1060304

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