With the advent of spring, flower traders are expecting a hefty business as the use of flower, a symbol of beauty and love, has increased a lot both at social and personal level.
They say that the demand of flowers continue to rise for its usage in various ceremonies like wedding ceremonies and other functions.
Growers hope that flowers worth of Tk 20 crore will be sold within a week, especially on Pahela Falgun and Valentine’s Day-- both the days are being celebrated on February 14 due to the changes made in the Bengali calendar -- and 21 February, international Mother Language Day.
Various kinds of flowers, like roses, gladioli, tuberoses, gerbera, marigolds, cosmos, daisy gypsies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums flood flower markets centring those occasions.
Market insiders say that the sector generates around Tk 1,800 crore in annual turnover while a recent statistic of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows that some 32, 120 tonnes of flowers are produced in the country.
Babul Prasad, President of Dhaka Flower Traders Kalyan Bahumukhi Cooperative Society, said that the flower market operates with wholesale prices throughout the year.
He said that approximately Tk 40 lakh worth of flowers are traded daily in this market.
“We are expecting more than Tk 20 crore sale on these three occasions in the capital alone,” he said.
Flowers are sourced from a total of 24 districts, including Jessore, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, and Rangpur, he added.
Growers say that they used to plant flowers at the beginning of the year. But now they are growing the flowers throughout the year as it appears as an emerging sector. They consider the first three-month as a peak season for business.
There are two flower markets at Shahbagh. One is retail market while the other one is wholesale market. The activities of the wholesale market start at 3:00pm, which lasts till 10:00 pm. Flowers including marigolds, gladiolus, zarberra, rajanigandha, gypsy, calendula and Chrysanthemum are traded here. Farmers bring these flowers from Jessore and Jhenaidah. Farmers
from different areas of Savar, Manikganj and around Dhaka also brought roses, rajnigandha, small and big marigold flowers from here.
Abdul Barek, proprietor of Malanch Flower Market at Shahbag told this correspondent that they sale between Tk 10,000 and Tk 20,000 per day. But, he is expecting robust sale on the occasion of Valentine’s Day and Falgun.
Abdul Barek has also said that he will be able to sell flowers worth Tk 200,000 on the two special occasion.
Md Abul Kalam Azad, president of Shahbagh Khudro Flower Traders Bhumukhi Cooperative Society, told Bangladesh Post, “There are some 50 small flower traders here. We have made an investment marking those special occasions in this month. We hope to get a good return this year.”
However, buyers raise allegations that like essential commodities, price of flowers go up during the special occasions.
They allege that traders are selling a rose at Tk 50, which is usually sold at Tk 20 on other days.
When asked about the allegation, Abul Kalam Azad said, they have nothing to do in this regard as they have to buy flowers at a high rate during the occasions. “If we purchase at a high rate, we have to sell those at a high price.”