Prices for Valentine s Day flowers have skyrocketed due to surging holiday demand and limited supplies.
A bouquet of 12 roses at the Nongke Flower Market is selling for 180 yuan (US$27), three times the price of off-peak days.
Online sales have a dozen roses priced at 390 yuan with a discount price of 289 yuan for members.
The roses we sell online are rather competitive compared with some others. We don t want to increase the prices but we have no choice because of the increase in the wholesale prices, a saleswoman in a flower shop said yesterday.
At a flower shop in Futian, a bouquet of 11 roses and lilies was labeled at 180 yuan, but would normally cost only 50 yuan. The shop owner, a woman surnamed Li, said her business had to rely on Valentine s Day. Increased labor cost and rent were among the reasons for the price increase.
Flower selling is a high-risk business because the flowers last only three to five days and are easily damaged during transport, Li said.
The price increase was mainly because of reduced production in the major flower production bases of Yunnan and increased air fares.
Some of the land in Yunnan was acquired for infrastructure projects and some flower farmers changed to growing vegetables and fruit, an employee of the Dounan International Flower Auction and Trade Center in Kunming City said.
Han Ximin