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The Ecuadorian floriculture industry:
growers shrug off bad year and look to expand in 2000.
The success of the Ecuadorian fresh cut flower industry is the result of various factors. The Andean highlands surrounding Quito provide perfect growing conditions for a variety of flowers,
most of all roses. The equatorial climate furnishes growers with plenty of sunshine and neighboring volcanoes – Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo – scatter the region with fertile volcanic ash.
The Ecuadorian flower boom began in the early 1980s, when a handful of Colombian growers discovered ideal growing conditions and cheap labor just across their southern border. The flowers
quickly began to grow, and in 1986 the young industry recorded a total export revenue of $1.7 million. Over the next ten years flower exports continued to expand and in 1997 Ecuador sold over $131 million worth of
cut flowers to foreign markets.
In 1999 Ecuador's rapidly expanding flower market slowed, due to a national economic downturn as well as increased local and international competition. When the industry got its start, a
small number of farmers produced flowers unmatched in quality at an affordable price. Today, while Ecuadorian flowers are still of the highest quality, there are more than 320 growers located in Ecuador alone. With
increasing production, buyers are able to find lower prices from growers desperate to unload their highly perishable products and sellers have been forced to accept less than market value for their goods.
With a 15 percent drop in export volume, 1999 was definitely a disappointing year. However after a decade of rapid expansion, the break has given growers a chance to simply catch their
breath, reevaluate market strategies, develop new products and implement new technology. Ecuador remains the second largest flower exporter in Latin America and flowers are Ecuador's fourth biggest source of export
income, after oil, bananas, and shrimp. Industry leaders remain confident that sales will rebound in 2000 with the creation of new flower varieties, improvements in pest management and the increasing use of the
Internet as a tool to market to a greater number of buyers.
Ecuador's apparent market advantages continue to be their excellent flowers, especially roses, the use of modern production technology and the embrace of new marketing strategies, such as
the Internet.
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