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Flower growing: One of the Most profitable
businesses' for the Twenty- first Century?
“We Can Continue to Grow”
For the CEO of Nevado Ecuador, Roberto Nevado
the future of the sector in Ecuador is extremely positive.
The future of the sector in Ecuador is extremely positive
is that today there are more than 2000 hectares of roses,
and that in relation with other producer nations we have a
very strong growth curve. The sector can continue to grow
because of the quality of the flower, beating the competition
who don't have this quality. The international market demands
quality and we can deliver it. What we have to do is consolidate
the North american and European markets, as well as looking
for alternative markets.
Nevado is not a typical grower in that 80%
of this production is destined for the European market with
only 20% going to the US. What's more this Spaniard with Ecuadorian
roots has had thirty years experience selling flowers and
has produced and sold his own produce for the last three years.
Perhaps for these reasons the downswing in
2000 didn't affect his business. "We sold all our produce,
prices didn't drop, and in fact we were able to increase prices
by about two cents a stem both in Europe and the US, we predicted
a lower price but that wasn't the case".
What happened in 2000 to the flower exporters and growers?
Nevado believes that 2000 should have been
a good year for everybody, "A lot of us were affected
by the depresion in the Russian market, but this forced us
to look for new markets, taking into consideration that we
have a firm advantage over competitors like the Colombians
who don't have the climate or altitude to be able to produce
flowers like ours."
Devaluation had both positive and negative
effects on the industry, but the most important thing is to
know that Ecuador is facing up to it's problems. " Ecuador
is facing similar problems to the ones we faced in Spain some
forty years ago. I am sure however that these problems will
be overcome in no more than three years, in the same way as
they were in Spain. Dolarization will bring stability to the
country. Before the dollar-sucre exchange was favorable, but
I prefer today's dollar to the instability that existed before
2000, with the devastating impact of devaluation. I think
that today Ecuador is serving as an example to the world in
many ways, because it is going through this process of stabilization.
I continue to be optimistic, this country has a lot of advantages".
To summarize Nevado feels positive about the future.
"I think this is going to be a good year.
I'm selling all my produce and I hope to increase my plantations
by some three hectares aver the next two years. I think this
is a realistic goal because the market for flowers exists.
I think the situation is also improving for my colleagues,
and we can all continue to grow, we just need the money to
be able to do it".
Contact NE at:
Nevado Ecuador
Apartado 05-01-353 Latacunga ,
Ecuador
Phone: 593 3 858 014
Fax: 593 3 85 80 15
info@nevado.org
www.nevadoecuador.com
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