cr2 - bouquets worldwide 9.5
TRANSCRIPT
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FlowerTECH 2006, vol. 9/no. 510 www.HortiWorld.
Bouquets worldwide profit
from Costa Rican leaves
Foliage is an important
export item for the Costa
Rican ornamental sector
and one whose sale dynamics
is closely influenced by that of
tropical flowers. Since most of
these flowers are destined to
floral designs and bouquets,
they require a certain amount
of foliage to go with it.
Prices of tropical flowers fluc-
tuate along the year; with high-
er prices usually found between
January and May. In the rest of
the year, flower production is
up in other countries, making
tropical flower prices fall.
However, not every country can
supply sufficient amounts of
foliage, so these countries have
to drop their flower prices in
order to keep their customers.
International buyers thus
acquire their flowers from such
sources and complement them
with foliage from Costa Rica.
This way local foliage growers
stay in the market throughout
the year, others in Costa Rica
can sell both foliage and flower
together in bouquets year-
round.
According to tropical plant
consultant Guillermo Murillo,
a foliage enthusiast, the direct
sales of ready bouquets from
farms to supermarkets (without
brokers) are on the rise in
Costa Rica as well. A world-
wide trend due to its higher
added value, it allows more net
earnings for flower growers
with the addition of foliage
and the use of labour. He advo-
cates a 2:1 ratio of foliage to
flower acreage, as a general
advice. According to data from
Procomer, the export of bou-
quets alone brought in US $1.4
million in 2002; $1.9 million
in 2003; and $2.1 million in
2004, as well as in 2005.
The main Costa Rican market
so far has been the US, pene-
tration in Europe has been
more difficult due to the fact
that there are other established
routes and suppliers that retail
ers rely on.
EU relationship
However, the economic rela-
tionship with the EU has
improved lately, especially
regarding the trade of agricul-
tural products, with actions
such as lowering import taxes.
Scandinavian countries are a
growing market for Costa Rica
plants; as is the demanding
Japanese market; Russia
remains important, but not
quite at the same level as
before their financial crisis.
China, as always, is a big
potential market as well.
Most EU purchases are of fin
ished plants, ready to be mar-
keted, while the US buys main
ly basic material for furthergrowth before its sale.
A director of the Costa Rican
Investment Board (CINDE) at
the time of the US-supported
new crop programme,
Guillermo was one of the
agronomists responsible for
electing the 20 crops that had
export potential for the diversi
fication of the Costa Rican
economy. Eventually becomin
The sales of foliage, in its strict sense of leaves only, is a
success factor to the exports of tropical flowers from
Costa Rica. Ranked sixth of all exports from Costa Rica,
foliage allows the transformation of flowers from an
agricultural product into bouquets, anywhere in the
world, from the US to Europe.
By Mauricio C. Mathias
Tropical plant
consultant Guillermo
Murillo
Product 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*
Banana 665.94 629.37 543.72 505.72 471.69 555.46 556.16 475.38
Coffee 409.25 288.74 274.09 161.84 165.13 201.32 229.23 230.64
Pineapples 114.32 130.81 121.09 139.91 160.02 197.21 259.89 325.48
Foliage, leaves and such 55.89 58.62 62.76 59.42 60.15 56.35 64.20 65.41
Ornamental Plants 50.43 54.97 54.57 54.12 59.18 66.69 72.18 70.19
Flowers and buds 24.09 24.34 24.50 23.30 26.73 28.92 30.15 34.68
Ornamental Total 130.41 137.93 141.83 136.84 146.06 151.96 166.53 170.28
Source: Procomer, Promotora del Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica, Banco Central
* not final
Table 1. Main agricultural exports from Costa Rica, in US $ million.
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in charge of the ornamental
programme, which in turn
fared the best now ranking
sixth of all exports of the Costa
Rican economy and is fourth in
value among exported agricul-
tural products (Table 1).
Main foliage items from Costa
Rica are ferns, palms and corde-
lyne. Approximate figures for
their production are: 1,700 ha offerns, 1,200 ha of Phoenix palm
and 400 ha of cordelyne. Most
palms are grown in the North
region, but also in the Central
and Atlantic areas where they
can be grown without shading
because it is often cloudy.
Fern leavesWithin foliage, fern leaves
(called fronds) are the main
item, its exports alone bring in
$52 million. Typical fincas de
helecho (fern farms, in
Spanish) are joint-ventures of
Costa Rican and US compa-
nies, where North Americans
contribute with capital and
guaranteed sales; while land
and labour are local. Fronds
are exported by boat; while
60% of other foliage are
shipped by airplane and 40%
by boat. Fern producers found-
ed their own association in2000, The Costa Rican
Association of Fern Producers
and Exporters (Acopehel), it
includes 63 companies, encom-
passing 78% of the Costa Rican
fern production. They endorse
the use of IPM, and other prac-
tices such as the monitoring of
water quality.
The leather-leaf fern (Rumohra
adiantiformis), is cultivated
mostly in the Central Valley, at
altitudes ranging from 800 to
1,800 m. And although it is
originally from South America,
Costa Rica is the worlds largest
fern exporter. In order to
reduce the impact of the use of
chemicals on both the environ-
ment and farm workers, 12
fern farms, adding up to 252
ha, formed the Rainforest
Alliance and became ECO OK
certified in 2002.
Finca El Rincn
Part of the Rain Forest Alliance,
El Rincn exports an average of
7,000 bunches per week, most-
ly to Europe. With 10 ha of
ferns grown under 10% shade,
owner Diego Argello explains
that the average yield is around
45 to 50,000 bunches (of 20
fronds) per ha per year, with
20% being discarded, averageprices are $0.10 per frond. He
estimates that start-up costs are
around $30,000 per ha to har-
vest fronds. As with most crops,
the higher the yield, the lower
the quality. An important qual-
ity issue is to harvest frond
without spores on their back-
side, another is copper spray-
ings to avoid antracnose in
young leaves. Manager Marlene
Monge concludes, Each plant
has a leaf cut out every 45 days,
but its important to keep a cer-
tain biomass in the shrub, not
depleting it, and the reproduc-
tion is done via rhizome or
spores. Another promising
crop at El Rincn is Fatsia
japonica, a new crop in Costa
Rica, but already a traditional
foliage in Italy and Israel.
Palm leaves
No whole palm plants, of any
size, can be exported to the US
market, a measure that benefits
growers in the Miami area
but palm leaves are another
important product. There are
no restrictions to the European
market however,
which at least partly
explains why
around 50% of
Costa Rican plantexports go to that
destination, in spite
of its longer dis-
tance (see Table 3).
Also, in order to
continue exporting
to the US all Costa
Rican farms had to
become certified
since 2001, upon a
course attendance,
against bioterrorism. As for the
EU market, mandatory certifi-
cation begins in 2007 (either
EurepGAP or ISO); but this is
expected to have no impact in
the overall business as almost
all farms have already com-
plied and obtained their certifi-
cation.
The sales of detached leaves,
come from plants grown for
this as a main purpose and as a
sub-item of the cultivation of
whole plants, such as palms.
One of the strong points of
Costa Rican ornamental indus-
try is the high rate of utilisa-
tion of individual plants, from
which five or so sub-products
are sometimes obtained.
Year Products Destination Companies
2001 36 64 220
2002 37 63 221
2003 35 65 225
2004 37 62 219
2005 39 60 214
* Includes products with export value higher than $200; destina-
tions with export values above $1,000 and companies exporting
more than $12,000 annually.
Table 2. Number of products, destinationsand companies: plants, flowers and foliage*,
2001-2005.
Traditional foliage in several Mediterranean countries,
Fatsia japonica is relatively new to Costa Rica.
The aim should be to harvest young fronds without spores (right); on the left an
old leaf that is showing spores.
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Some of them are tips, branch-
es, leaves, and finally the sale of
the whole plant as a final prod-
uct for landscaping, or as a
mother plant, or still as a prod-
uct to be finished by foreign
growers. This significantly
increases the earnings per m2,
even though it may not be visi-
ble at first sight when one
enters some local companies,
being so small that they make
one wonder how it can be prof-
itable. Before production, uni-
versity studies researched for the
best species or varieties to be
grown and marketed. The main
farm infrastructure investment
usually is shade-cloth covering
and studies are now determin-
ing its effect on different
species. Guillermo is adamant
about its effect. There is no
general rule so we shouldnt
generalise, colour shade effect is
particular to each species and
sometimes variety-specific. So,
irrespective of what any sales-
man may tell you, there is no
rule of thumb. You have to
know how your crop behaves
under coloured shading.
Foliage La Reventazn
For example, when Phoenix roe-
bellini plants are started out,
on-site experiments found out
that red shade after germina-
tion gives a two to three-month
head start to the leaf-harvest;
with 30 to 40 cm in height
palm trees are ready to go to
the field. Once there, it is
important to trim the bottom
leaves once a month to spur its
growth in height. Its economi-
cal importance can be seen as a
field of the Phoenix palm has
an average of 12,500 plants per
ha, and an average of one leaf
per plant per week is harvested.
Farms like Foliage La Reventa-
zn can produce 40,000 expor-
table leaves per ha per month,
with prices that go from $0.12
for a 60 cm long leaf to $0.20
for a one-metre leaf.
With 22 ha in area, La
Reventazn is large for the
Atlantic area and grows more
than 20 plant species, employ-
ing 30 people. Farm manage-
ment is always crucial for the
success of any enterprise, but
even more so when operations
are not based on high technol-
ogy, but labour-, and land-intensive. In order to increase
land-use efficiency, new palm
trees are planted in between
the older ones, months before
these are uprooted to be sold
as whole plants at the end of
their cycle as a source of leaves.
So that when this happens, the
new planting is already estab-
lished and under way, whole
palm trees are usually sold for
$5 for every 30 cm of trunk
and go for sale once they are 1
m to 1.2 m high.
At La Reventazn, soil and
foliar analysis are done every
three weeks, since it is essentia
to monitor nutrition and to
maintain quality; pH manage-
ment is crucial to control the
availability of nutrients and th
fertilisation programme is
changed accordingly.
As with every ornamental,
individual leaves are sold for
their beauty, so nutrition is
fundamental to guarantee goo
appearance. Magnesium is a
key element for leaf colour in
general, whereas Phoenix is
specially demanding in potass
um. No copper can be used in
any palm trees, as they are phy
totoxic; flooding is detrimenta
to palms as well.
Pests and diseases are anotheimportant factor and scale
insects can become a nuisance
as they are frequently associat-
ed with ants, in a biorelation,
ant control gives good results
against scales. Phoenix leaves
have a good shelf life, resisting
45 days at 0C, alllowing ship
transportation in containers.
Country 2004* % 2005* %
USA 65.7 40.4% 73.2 42.9%
The Netherlands 54.1 33.3% 55.7 32.7%
Germany 16.2 10.0% 15.4 9.1%
Canada 3.8 2.4% 4.0 2.3%
Italy 2.5 1.5% 3.2 1.9%
Others 20.2 12.5% 18.9 11.1%
Total 162.5 100.0% 170.4 100.0%
* In US $ million
Table 3. Main export destination for plants, flowers andfoliage, 2004-2005.
For land efficiency reasons, at La Reventazn newer plants are planted in the mid-
dle of old trees.
For a one-metre leaf, prices can go up to $0.20.