The retail dollar volume of cut-flower imports into the U.S. for the first four months on this year (January-April 2019); totaled $584.76 million; that’s an increase of 10.5 percent over the same period in 2018. For all of 2018, U.S. cut-flower imports totaled $1.1 billion. Here are the top cut-flower exporting countries to the U.S. and top U.S. ports of entry.
January-April 2019
These are the seven top exporting countries of cut flowers to the U.S. for the first four months of this year and the percentages their products are of total U.S. cut-flower imports. The ranking is the same for the full year of 2018. You can see that Colombia remains, by far, the leading supplier of cut flowers to the U.S.
| Country | Dollar Value | Volume (Tonnage) |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 60.0% | 67.0% |
| Ecuador | 22.2% | 23.0% |
| The Netherlands | 5.5% | 4.4% |
| Canada | 5.0% | N/A |
| Mexico | 2.3% | N/A |
| Costa Rica | 1.5% | 1.4% |
| Guatemala | .80% | .88% |
Here are the top seven gateways for cut flowers into the U.S. (airports, seaports and border crossings) and the percentages of total cut-flower imports each facility handles. Miami International Airport (MIA) is, by far, the top facility for processing cut-flower imports into the U.S.
| Country | Dollar Value | Volume (Tonnage) |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Int’l. Airport (MIA) | 78.8% | 85.0% |
| Los Angeles Int’l. Airport (LAX) | 3.7% | 3.9% |
| John F. Kennedy Int’l. Airport (JFK) | 3.4% | 3.1% |
| Buffalo, N.Y. Peace Bridge (truck) | 3.1% | N/A |
| Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) (seaport) | 2.4% | 3.1% |
| PortMiami (seaport) | 1.7% | 2.0% |
| Otay Mesa Freeway Border Crossing (San Diego) (truck) | 1.6% | N/A |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; WorldCity, Inc., ustradenumbers.com/import/fresh-cut-flowers
• Of all cut flowers available for sale in the United States:
– 80% are imported
– 20% are produced domestically
• Of the cut flowers imported into the United States:
– 85% come from Colombia and Ecuador (by volume) Stated another way, 68% of all cut flowers available for sale in the U.S. come from Colombia and Ecuador (85% of the 80%)
• Of the U.S. cut flowers imported from Colombia and Ecuador:
– 74% come from Colombia
– 26% come from Ecuador Stated another way, approximately 50% of all cut flowers available for sale in the U.S. come from Colombia and 18% come from Ecuador
• Of the cut flowers produced in the U.S.:
– 77% are grown in California (in dollar value)
(These numbers are approximate and vary somewhat by year and quarter. We present them to give you a general sense of the sources of cut flowers sold in the U.S.)
Sources:
USDA/NASS “Floriculture Crops 2018 Summary,” May 2019; nass.usda.gov
Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association (WF&FSA) 2018 Floral Distribution Conference “Trends in Global Production,” Jim Daly; wffsa.org
David Coake is a floral-industry writer and editor who has contributed to Super Floral, Florists' Review and Slow Flowers Journal. He co-edited "Florists' Review Weddings 2" and is credited on "Florists' Review Design School".
