India Florist Information

The major markets for flowers are situated in the states, which produce significant quantities of flowers. Kerala is one state that has a fairly large market without any production of flowers. Some states, particularly Southern ones, have more than one large market in the state as the area under flower production is fairly widely distributed. The major markets in terms of number of traders involved and the quantity traded are in the peninsular and east India. The major markets in peninsular India are Madras, Coimbatore and Madurai and Tamil Nadu; Bangalore, Mysore and Dharwad in Karnataka; Hyderabad and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh; Trivandrum and Cochin in Kerala; and Bombay and Pune in Maharashtra. The city of Bombay itself has three large markets. Calcutta in the east is probably the biggest. In addition to the market in the city of Calcutta., there are several fairly large regional markets in West Bengal. In the north probably Lucknow/Kannauj and Delhi are the big market for flowers besides locations in Rajasthan. It is tempting to give an estimate of the value of flowers traded in the country. As this is a study of the industry many readers would also expect an estimate. We attempted to estimate, but it proved to be quite a difficult task for several reasons.

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Some of the major markets were visited for discussions with traders during the survey. (The markets visited were Delhi, Lucknow, Kannauj, Calcutta, Ranaghat, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune, Bombay, Madras, Coimbatore, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.) First, the traders themselves are very reluctant, for understandable reasons, to reveal their volume of business. Second, the quantity of each flower, which comes into the market, varies from day to day. Third, the sale of many flowers varies widely not only from day to day but also within a day. We realized the only way to arrive at reliable estimates would be to monitor the markets over extended periods of time. The estimates of volume of trade one comes across, particularly in terms of rupees, are likely to be spurious unless they are based on traders reporting of their sales which is generally not forthcoming. So, we reluctantly present two indicators of volume of trade in some markets with a great deal of trepidation. The first estimate is based on discussions with traders. This information is available for some of the markets only. A few agents/wholesalers in each of the markets were asked about the volume of their business and their estimate of the trade in the market as a whole. The number of commission agents operating in different markets is also available to us.

Some estimates of total trade were given by the representatives of organisations of agents in a few markets. Two sets of figures are presented. The first is the estimate of trade by individual agents. The total for the market is arrived at by multiplying individual trade by the number of agents in the market. But there are problems. All agents do not deal in all flowers and our sample was not large enough to determine what portion of the agents deal in a particular flower. Therefore, the figures we have arrived at appear to overestimate the actual trade. The second set of figures is the estimate of trade in the market given by agents themselves. For example, the estimate of trade in rose is arrived at by multiplying individual volume of trade by the number of agents for the three markets in Bombay and are 31,500, 29,400 and 29,200 dozens per day while estimates of trade given by the agents in the three markets are 6,000, 6,000 and 10,000 dozen per day. These numbers should at best be treated as upper and lower bounds for the volume of trade taking place in the market. The second set of estimates is likely to be more reliable because it is based on the area of production. But the production areas themselves are the result of educated guesses of the people we surveyed except in the case of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. We have attempted to estimate the value of flowers traded in India. The total value of major flowers produced in India at the wholesale prices is estimated to be Rs. 1,219.4 million. There are problems here too. For some states, details of the area under production of different flowers such as rose which have both varieties, traditional and modern, pose difficulties. There is a substantial area under production of other flowers, the value of which is not included in the above estimate.

Although no formal efforts have been made to organize this industry a marketing system has evolved which performs fairly well with respect to incentives it offers to the producers and the price at which it makes the products available to the consumers. Flowers, being perishable and delicate, make their marketing challenging. Now we proceed with the discussion of the nature of demand and supply of flowers and the behaviour of market prices.

Flowers
Introduction
Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purposes. The liberalized economy has given an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic conditions. About 60,000 ha area is under floriculture at present. Production flowers is estimated to be 200,000 tonnes of loose flowers and 500 million (numbers) of cut flowers.

Floriculture - Production area
In India, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana have emerged as major floriculture entrees in recent times. At present, the internal demand for cut-flower and ornamental plants in mainly met through production at coastal areas of Kerala mainly Cochin &Trivandrum.

There is also a tremendous potential for growing these plants, on commercial scale, along the coastal region in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, besides in the Western Ghats.

Growth promotional activities
The most promising area is the dry flower industry. Dried flower and plants have been exported for the last 30 years and today, India is one of the leading countries in the field. In Rajasthan, more than 7,000 tonnes of rose are produced. About 75% of this is exported to West Asian countries in the form of dry petals. Not just flowers, but other plant parts like leaves, stems and pods are also used in the dry flower industry.

Flower trade in India is flourishing as many research centers and special nurseries have turned into a promising business. Exports of floriculture products was valued at Rs. 700 million (US$ 20 million). There has been an impressive growth in the export of cut flowers from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 700 million in the previous years. More than 191 export-oriented units (EOUs) have been approved in the sector out of which 70 units are operational. But many of them operate at less than 50% of their capacity. With redress of the problem, the floriculture industry thus may turn to be viable enterprise for earning foreign exchange.

Besides the development due to the efforts of Institute for Horticultural research in Bangalore and Institute for Botanical Research, in 1970, another impetus was given to the business of cultivating flowers with the establishment of the “Project for Improving Horticulture in India”.

Types
The Indian flowers are either exported to world over in the form of seeds or capsules or dried flowers. This industry has gained popularity due to the presence of exclusive varieties of ornamental flowers grown in India. Rose, Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Mogra are some of the mostly sold varieties.

GOLDENROD
FLOWERS

At the right you see me standing in a big field in southern Mississippi, surrounded by millions of Canada Goldenrods, Solidago canadensis. In the fall, few wildflowers and weeds put on such a brilliant show as goldenrods.
Goldenrods are members of the Composite Family, so by no means do their blossoms have the same structure as our Standard Blossom. If you run across a goldenrod, try to find the following parts of the actual goldenrod flower.

In the above photo you can see that the flowering yellow top -- the inflorescence -- of each goldenrod plant consists of numerous arching, fingerlike structures. On our Blossom Arrangement Page we see that this kind of inflorescence is known as a panicle. The fingerlike structures are branches of the goldenrod's panicle. At the left you see one of those branches magnified several times. Each of those cylindrical things with a fuzzy top is a head consisting of several flowers India florist.

At the right you see a much-magnified head. The outwardly flaring items that in other blossoms we might call petals are actually ray flowers. Inside the head are visible several disk flowers. A couple of the disk flowers have anthers rising above them. This whole collection of ray and disk flowers is held together in a slender, greenish-yellow, cuplike structure known as the involucre. If you were holding the head in your hand, you could separate the longish, flattish, tongue-like involucral bracts from one another

At the left you see a much-much magnified disk flower, with a less-magnified ray flower shown in the yellow-framed inset at the lower right in the picture. Now things are beginning to look a little more like our Standard Blossom, for the corolla tube has five petal-like lobes. The entire disk flower measures only about 3/16ths of an inch long (4 mm).

The pappus consists of stiff bristles atop the inferior ovary (as explained on our Standard Blossom page). Later both of these items will enlarge, while other flower parts will wither and fall off. The inferior ovary will become a special kind of hard, dry fruit called an achene, and the pappus will develop into a kind of "parachute" that will help the achene travel to a new location on the wind.

Flowers are very intimately associated with the social and religious activities in India. In social life, flowers are offered to welcome, to felicite and to greet friends or relatives and guests in functions. Flowers are needed in all the religious ceremonies functions including marriages. Garlands and wreaths are offered on dead bodies of martyars and very important persons (VIPs) and national heroes as a gratitude for the work done and sacrifice made by them. Flower is a taken of love and tenderness. They are wanted due to various attractive colours and fragrance. Flowers are also used for extracting essential oils, which are used in perfumes. Many flowers have medicinal values and hence are used in Ayurveda. In India, large number of flowers are grown in different parts according to soils and climate and also likings and preferences of the people for specific type of flowers. Important flowers are rose, marigold, chrysanthemum, jasmine, lily, tuberose, aster, zinia, carnation, gladiolus, galardia etc. Flowers are tender and hence highly perishable. They are generally used in fresh form but they have very short shelf life. This poses great problems in their marketing, particularly lone distance marketing. Therefore, flower cultivation is concentrated in the hinterland of big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi etc. But with the development of quick transport vehicles and refrigerated or insulated vans, flowers are transported to distant markets including foreign markets. For successful marketing of flowers, well-developed markets and well-organised marketing system is necessary. In the marketing of flowers the aspects involved are –

Channel I - Producer – Commission agent - Retailer – Consumer (in Delhi market)

Since Delhi is a big market, 65% flowers were sold through Channel I and remaining 32% and 3% were sold through Channels II and Channels III. Thus the local market sale was only 3%. Marketing costs, margins and producer’s share in consumer’s rupee is given below for roses sold after making garlands-

Sr.
No.
Particulars
Channel I
Channel II

Rs/Q.
%
Rs/Q.
%

1.
Producer’s share
1465
51.72
1504
53.09

2.
Marketing costs
657
22.91
-
-

3.
Commission charges
99
3.74
622
21.95

4.
Retailer’s margin
612
21.61
707
24.94

5.
Consumer’s price
2833
100.00
2833
100.00

Sr.
No.
Particulars
Channel I
Channel II

Rs/Q.
%
Rs/Q.
%

1.
Producer’s share
1465
73.08
1504
77.17

2.
Marketing costs
245
12.24
208
18.66

3.
Commission agent’s margin 99
4.91
-
-

4.
Retailer’s margin
196
9.77
238
12.21

5.
Consumer’s price
2005
100.00
1950
100.00

There was increase in value of roses when sod in the form of garlands as shown below: -

Thus, there was increase in the value of roses by 41.27% when sold in the form of garlands. But the producer’s share was reduced from 73% to 52% indicating that the producer was not benefited by increase in value.

In Kerala, cultivation of orchids has now assumed commercial status. In the marketing of orchids, there existed two main agencies. (1) Local buyers and (2) Distant market florists, indicating two Channels.

The cost of marketing worked out to Rs. 3.00 per spike. In this transport cost was the major (73%) followed by packing (27%), Marketing orchids in the distant markets was more remunerative with B.C. ratio of 2 than local (field) sale.

In the marketing of gladiolus as cut flowers in Karnataka, two channels were observed.

Channel I was more important with 84% produce passing through this channel than channel II with 16%produce passing through it. The comparison of returns from market sale and contract sale are shown below (Rs. Per 100 dozen)

Sr.
No.
Particulars
Cannel I
(Market sale)
Channel II
(Contract sale)

1.
Gross returns
4000
3000

2.
Additional costs

I) Transport
13.02
-

ii) Personnel
19.08
-

iii) Packing
8.91
-

iv) Market fee
0.78
-

Sub Total
42.39
-

3.
Net returns (1-2)
3957.61
3000

4.
B.C.ratio
23.59
-

This showed that it is more remunerative to sell flowers in the market where the forces of demand and supply are more clear and price determination is competitive and open or transparent.

The marketing cost was Rs. 6.61 per kg. Which was over 15% of the value of flowers sold by the farmers (Rs.44 per kg). Producers share was as low as 41%. The trader-cum-commission agent and retailers margins were 6.02% and 45.78% respectively. About 85% farmers opined that the commission charges were very high.

Nearly 99% flowers were sold through channels I and II. The flowers were sold in two ways (1) in loose form and (2) in the form of garlands. The garlands were prepared at the retailer’s level. When flowers were sold after making garlands, the producer’s share in the consumer’s rupee was 22.63% and 23.70% respectively in Channels I and II. These shares were quite high at 72% and 75% respectively in Channels I and II when flowers were sold in loose form. This was due to the fact that in the process of making garlands, the retailer incurred substantial cost in the form of skilled labour, which resulted into increase in the value of flowers, and hence he shared greater margin.

among the four floral attributes such as colour, variety, floral arrangement and price, the consumer’s in general placed priority for variety (i.e. hybrid) followed by colour (i.e.pink),
women also showed greater inclination to variety (hybrid). Even youngsters preferred variety as the most important attribute,
highly educated consumer’s had also strong preference for hybrid varieties.
Among the three market segments the major segment exhibited strong favour towards variety. This segment was highly conspicuous as it was dominated by women who were mostly youngsters, highly educated and relatively well off. However, the relative importance attached to different attributes varied across the market segments.
In general, marketing of flowers is not well developed and well organised. There is no improved packing. Flowers like marigold are packed in gunny bags. Transport and commission charges (10-15%) are the main items of costs. Cold chain system of transport is not yet followed for flowers, which are sold in domestic markets. Therefore, long distant marketing (beyond 500 km) is not possible. However, floriculture is emerging as a commercial proposition in recent years due to export of some selected flower types and varieties. Production of export oriented flowers in green houses/poly houses is a recent technological adoption in India, which has given impetus to exports. But there is urgent need to improve packing system, quality of flowers (grading), quick and refrigerated transport and organisation with minimum intermediaries. Floriculture crops require intensive cultivation and have high income potential. Therefore, they generate good employment in rural area. An acre of land under flower cultivation can support a family of 5-6 members. It can fetch annual income of Rs. 30,000/- if much valued flowers like roses, carnations, gladiolus and orchids are grown.

The blossoms of wild, native roses are similar to our Standard Blossom in that they possess five colorful petals. However, as you can see in the rose at the right, that flower has many more than five petals. That's because the rose in the picture, and most of the roses you'll run across in average backyards, are horticultural varieties that have been hybridized and otherwise changed around by humans so that they have extra petals, which make them more gaudy. In the picture, the small, round, yellowish spot is composed of several stigmas. Surrounding this cluster of stigmas are several mealy looking stamens, composed of anthers atop their stemlike filaments. Then surrounding the stamens are the blossom's many bright petals.
At the left I've made a cross-section of a rose blossom to show the parts better. Now it's clear that rose flowers are different from our Standard Blossom in other important ways, too. For one thing, instead of possessing a single ovary, rose flowers have several. Each ovary's style joins with other styles and extends in a column upward through the surrounding stamens, and ends with its own stigma.

Even more profoundly different from our Standard Blossom is the fact that the ovaries are positioned on the side of a cuplike structure known as the hypanthium. The upper rim of the hypanthium more or less closes over the ovaries inside it, leaving only a hole large enough for the styles to pass through.

Atop the hypanthium there's a circular disk from which many stamens arise. Our Standard Blossom had only 5 stamens, so this is yet another difference between it and the average rose flower.

You might ask, How did horticulturists get wild, 5-petaled rose flowers to produce so many extra petals, and therefore make the flower more spectacular?

It happens that the genetic information that produces stamens is somehow closely associated with that which produces petals. The proof of that is that sometimes in rose flowers you can find a stamen with certain features of a petal, or a petal with certain features of a stamen. As I was dissecting the above blossom I happened to find just such a thing, which is shown at the right. There you see a cluster of stamens removed from the staminal disk, with one of the stamens' anthers clearly becoming "petaloid" on one side. In this same blossom I also found petals with what appeared to be remnants of stamen filaments along their edges!

Actinomorphic: Can be divided into two exact parts, if a line is drawn from one side to the other, reaching the centre, no matter where the line is drawn .( radial symmetry)

Zygomorphic: Only two symmetrical parts are possible if a line is drawn from one side to the other, reaching the centre. With a single plane of symmetry ( bilateral symmetry)

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