Catalans will give away seven million roses during Sant Jordi, 20% more than last year and the highest number since the pandemic, although only 2% of the flowers come from Spanish growers, the vast majority from Valencia and Maresme . 63% of the roses come from Colombia, another 20% from Holland and 15% from Ecuador, although this country has reduced its red rose production due to climatic incidents and this year it is more expensive.
This was explained yesterday in a press conference by the president of the Mercabarna-Flor Wholesalers Guild, Miquel Batlle, who was accompanied by the president of the Florists Guild of Catalonia, Joan Guillem, and the president of Mercabarna and councilor for Economy, Hacienda, Economic and Tourism Promotion of Barcelona City Council, Jordi Valls.
Miquel Batlle assured that "there are practically no roses left here, the national rose is an anecdotal fact", because it is expensive to produce and is not profitable, and he ventures that "this may be the last year that there is Spanish production." “Sant Jordi has already surpassed the national producer” and “the drought has nothing to do” with this situation, he considers. The professional sector expects to sell about seven million roses, 20% more than last year, and Mercabarna-Flor, as a distribution channel, will sell a third, about 2.3 million, according to data provided yesterday. And although this year these seven million roses are considered a good sales figure, they are still far from the 8,613,000 units distributed in 2019, before the pandemic.
