Last week, a small team from the Delaware Valley Floral Group attended the bi-annual trade show for Flower Growers and Service providers in Quito, Ecuador. Visitors from across the globe attended the event, as the floral production in Ecuador reaches countries worldwide, including America, Canada, Taiwan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Spain and more.
Ecuador produces some of the finest roses and novelty varieties available that are sought by florists around the globe. We are lucky to be so closely linked geographically to Quito, with a distance of just under 3,000 miles. With great cargo flights from Quito to Miami, DVFlora and the DVFG currently ship from Ecuador six days a week, with flights landing in Miami. Once landed, product continues on one of our own Flower Transfer Logistics trucks directly to our hub in Southern, New Jersey prior to delivery to our customers.
Production volume in the Quito area has remained relatively consistent over the past 10 years, but there is consolidation occurring; this simply means the larger farms are increasing in size as smaller farms pass their greenhouses onto bigger companies. This year, production of roses has been down about 10% as a result of the relative weather conditions, which is one of the reasons the supply of roses has been tight during peak demand weeks. Quito is situated in the Andes Mountain range at an altitude of 9,700 feet. The altitude coupled with its location directly on the Equatorial line provide 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of darkness, and an outstanding temperate climate, thus making conditions perfect for year-round production.
We have been shipping from Ecuador since the early days of flower production in the Quito area, which is now about 22 years. Cheers to many more!
