Overall, the value of flower bouquet exports increased by an average 25% for all exporting countries since 2015 when flower bouquet shipments were valued at $7.5 billion. Year over year, the value of globally exported flower bouquets rose by 1.8% from 2018 to 2019.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of exported cut flowers during 2019 with shipments amounting to $5.3 billion or 56.1% of the worldwide total. Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean represent 25%, trailed by African exporters at 11.6% then Asian suppliers at 5.9% respectively.
Smaller percentages came from sources in North America (1.3%) and Oceania (0.2%) led by New Zealand and Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0603 for cut flowers and flower buds suitable for bouquets or for ornamental purposes.
Flower Bouquet Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of flower bouquets during 2019.
- Netherlands: US$4.6 billion (48.9% of exported flower bouquets)
- Colombia: $1.4 billion (14.9%)
- Ecuador: $879.8 million (9.3%)
- Kenya: $709.4 million (7.5%)
- Ethiopia: $241.3 million (2.6%)
- Belgium: $153.4 million (1.6%)
- China: $119.9 million (1.3%)
- Malaysia: $113.1 million (1.2%)
- Italy: $105.7 million (1.1%)
- Belarus: $82.6 million (0.9%)
- Thailand: $76.3 million (0.8%)
- Germany: $65.7 million (0.7%)
- Canada: $64.2 million (0.7%)
- Spain: $59.7 million (0.6%)
- South Africa: $55.8 million (0.6%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 92.8% of global flower bouquets exported in 2019 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing flower bouquets exporters since 2015 were: Belarus (up 5,268%), Belgium (up 82.6%), South Africa (up 71.2%) and Spain (up 51.4%).
One country posted a decline in its exported flower bouquets sales, namely Germany via a -21% drop.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for cut flowers suitable for bouquets during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s flower bouquet exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Netherlands: US$3.4 billion (net export surplus up 45.1% since 2015)
- Colombia: $1.4 billion (up 8.5%)
- Ecuador: $879.5 million (up 7.3%)
- Kenya: $709.1 million (up 48.2%)
- Ethiopia: $241.2 million (up 24.1%)
- Malaysia: $105.1 million (up 14.2%)
- Belarus: $57.4 million (reversing a -$17.2 million deficit)
- China: $57.3 million (up 0.7%)
- South Africa: $51.6 million (up 79.2%)
- Taiwan: $41.9 million (up 66.7%)
- Israel: $40.3 million (down -40.3%)
- Thailand: $40.3 million (down -24.7%)
- Mexico: $34.7 million (up 5.6%)
- Turkey: $31.9 million (up 36.2%)
- Vietnam: $29.5 million (up 83.4%)
True to its stereotypical image as a tulip producer, the Netherlands serves as the home country with the highest surplus in the international trade of cut flowers suitable for bouquets. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the strong competitive advantage that Netherlands has for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for cut flowers suitable for bouquets during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s flower bouquet import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$1.6 billion (net export deficit up 28.8% since 2015)
- Germany: -$1.1 billion (up 1.2%)
- United Kingdom: -$808.5 million (down -17.6%)
- France: -$362.9 million (up 1%)
- Japan: -$352.3 million (up 10.3%)
- Russia: -$311.9 million (down -34.7%)
- Switzerland: -$170 million (down -2.5%)
- Poland: -$135.9 million (up 119.6%)
- Austria: -$121.4 million (up 16.6%)
- Denmark: -$108 million (up 7.5%)
- Czech Republic: -$97.2 million (up 40.8%)
- Belgium: -$90.6 million (up 81.4%)
- Italy: -$86 million (down -9.1%)
- Sweden: -$81.5 million (up 10%)
- Norway: -$78.8 million (down -4.6%)
America and Germany incurred the highest deficits when it comes to the international trade of cut flowers suitable for bouquets. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights both countries’ strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for flower bouquet-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from American and German consumers.
Companies
Flower Bouquet Importing Companies
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are examples of multinational cut flower buyers.
- Almacenes Vaca (Mexico)
- Hosley International (United States)
- San Antonio Imports (Mexico)
- Viveres El Triunfo (Mexico)
- WalMart (United States)
Searchable List of Flower Bouquet Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2018 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Flower Bouquet Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Netherlands | $4,603,636,000 | +1.8% |
| 2. | Colombia | $1,404,347,000 | -3.7% |
| 3. | Ecuador | $879,779,000 | +3.3% |
| 4. | Kenya | $709,402,000 | +23.4% |
| 5. | Ethiopia | $241,270,000 | +1.1% |
| 6. | Belgium | $153,427,000 | +1.7% |
| 7. | China | $119,942,000 | +10.9% |
| 8. | Malaysia | $113,080,000 | -2.9% |
| 9. | Italy | $105,739,000 | -2.5% |
| 10. | Belarus | $82,615,000 | +16.4% |
| 11. | Thailand | $76,301,000 | -2% |
| 12. | Germany | $65,716,000 | -4.7% |
| 13. | Canada | $64,234,000 | +3.7% |
| 14. | Spain | $59,691,000 | +9.1% |
| 15. | South Africa | $55,765,000 | +2.8% |
| 16. | Poland | $47,577,000 | +8.8% |
| 17. | Taiwan | $45,877,000 | +24.8% |
| 18. | Vietnam | $45,640,000 | +6.5% |
| 19. | United Kingdom | $41,425,000 | -20.2% |
| 20. | Israel | $41,305,000 | -23.2% |
| 21. | Turkey | $35,859,000 | +5% |
| 22. | Mexico | $35,463,000 | -9% |
| 23. | Lithuania | $32,846,000 | -28.3% |
| 24. | Costa Rica | $29,624,000 | +4.4% |
| 25. | Uganda | $24,335,000 | +688.8% |
| 26. | Tanzania | $23,172,000 | +37.8% |
| 27. | United States | $22,000,000 | -9.4% |
| 28. | Guatemala | $20,489,000 | +1.3% |
| 29. | France | $19,627,000 | -14.5% |
| 30. | India | $19,440,000 | -9.8% |
| 31. | Latvia | $16,491,000 | -21% |
| 32. | New Zealand | $12,416,000 | -11.1% |
| 33. | Denmark | $11,574,000 | +51.2% |
| 34. | Kazakhstan | $10,849,000 | -10.4% |
| 35. | South Korea | $10,073,000 | -11.7% |
| 36. | Portugal | $9,773,000 | 0% |
| 37. | Singapore | $9,712,000 | -7.5% |
| 38. | Peru | $8,215,000 | +12% |
| 39. | Japan | $8,114,000 | +0.8% |
| 40. | Zambia | $8,038,000 | -17.4% |
| 41. | Morocco | $7,945,000 | +9.5% |
| 42. | Armenia | $7,266,000 | -10.4% |
| 43. | Czech Republic | $6,189,000 | -14.7% |
| 44. | Austria | $6,082,000 | -9.9% |
| 45. | Chile | $5,637,000 | +32.2% |
| 46. | Nigeria | $5,231,000 | -23.7% |
| 47. | Hungary | $4,638,000 | -17.6% |
| 48. | Rwanda | $4,574,000 | +21.5% |
| 49. | Indonesia | $4,441,000 | -23.1% |
| 50. | Australia | $4,368,000 | -5.5% |
| 51. | Slovakia | $3,369,000 | -8.8% |
| 52. | Zimbabwe | $3,061,000 | -32.1% |
| 53. | Egypt | $3,039,000 | -12.9% |
| 54. | Bulgaria | $2,284,000 | -20.1% |
| 55. | Sri Lanka | $1,295,000 | -39.3% |
| 56. | Finland | $1,285,000 | +36.7% |
| 57. | Ivory Coast | $1,277,000 | -80.8% |
| 58. | Ghana | $1,255,000 | -39.1% |
| 59. | Sweden | $1,160,000 | -15.8% |
| 60. | Ukraine | $968,000 | +16.1% |
| 61. | Croatia | $933,000 | -2.7% |
| 62. | Luxembourg | $766,000 | -19.6% |
| 63. | Mauritius | $729,000 | -21.6% |
| 64. | Russia | $710,000 | +4.7% |
| 65. | Slovenia | $532,000 | +113.7% |
| 66. | Greece | $476,000 | -20.5% |
| 67. | Cameroon | $450,000 | -24% |
| 68. | Dominican Republic | $442,000 | +27.4% |
| 69. | Marshall Islands | $338,000 | -73.4% |
| 70. | Senegal | $327,000 | +3.2% |
| 71. | Philippines | $313,000 | +18.6% |
| 72. | Serbia | $293,000 | +22.1% |
| 73. | Ireland | $275,000 | -59.6% |
| 74. | Iran | $274,000 | -98.6% |
| 75. | Hong Kong | $273,000 | -73.8% |
| 76. | Pakistan | $254,000 | -87.5% |
| 77. | Switzerland | $197,000 | +245.6% |
| 78. | Uzbekistan | $196,000 | +172.2% |
| 79. | Brazil | $161,000 | +32% |
| 80. | Lesotho | $135,000 | -29.3% |
| 81. | Suriname | $119,000 | 0% |
| 82. | Laos | $97,000 | +1,840% |
| 83. | Estonia | $93,000 | -81.8% |
| 84. | Malawi | $89,000 | -47% |
| 85. | Lebanon | $71,000 | +10.9% |
| 86. | Nicaragua | $68,000 | +580% |
| 87. | Burkina Faso | $65,000 | -72% |
| 88. | Oman | $64,000 | -65.8% |
| 89. | Tunisia | $58,000 | -87.8% |
| 90. | North Macedonia | $56,000 | +30.2% |
| 91. | Panama | $45,000 | -31.8% |
| 92. | Albania | $45,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Togo | $37,000 | 0% |
| 94. | Romania | $36,000 | -76.9% |
| 95. | Cambodia | $32,000 | 0% |
| 96. | French Polynesia | $32,000 | +128.6% |
| 97. | Georgia | $29,000 | +31.8% |
| 98. | Barbados | $21,000 | -36.4% |
| 99. | Syria | $17,000 | +88.9% |
| 100. | Azerbaijan | $14,000 | -22.2% |
| 101. | Kuwait | $10,000 | -58.3% |
| 102. | Jordan | $9,000 | -10% |
| 103. | Nepal | $9,000 | -71% |
| 104. | Benin | $8,000 | -96.9% |
| 105. | United Arab Emirates | $8,000 | -99.2% |
| 106. | Venezuela | $6,000 | 0% |
| 107. | Palestine | $6,000 | -86.7% |
| 108. | Sudan | $6,000 | +50% |
| 109. | Saudi Arabia | $5,000 | -97.6% |
| 110. | New Caledonia | $5,000 | -37.5% |
| 111. | Niger | $5,000 | 0% |
| 112. | Norfolk Island | $5,000 | 0% |
| 113. | Qatar | $5,000 | 0% |
| 114. | Myanmar (Burma) | $5,000 | -44.4% |
| 115. | Central African Rep | $5,000 | 0% |
| 116. | Jamaica | $4,000 | +100% |
| 117. | Mali | $4,000 | -81% |
| 118. | Guyana | $3,000 | 0% |
| 119. | Dominica | $3,000 | +200% |
| 120. | Namibia | $2,000 | 0% |
| 121. | Madagascar | $2,000 | 0% |
| 122. | Seychelles | $2,000 | 0% |
| 123. | Iceland | $1,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $1,000 | 0% |
| 125. | Turks and Caicos Islands | $1,000 | 0% |
| 126. | US Minor Outlying Is | $1,000 | -93.8% |
See also Netherlands Top 10 Exports and Netherlands Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 4, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Wikipedia, Cut flowers. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on May 4, 2020
