Flower rush. Bengaluru’s rose exports blossom ahead of Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Bengaluru’s rose exports have spiked this year with some local exporters seeing a 30 per cent increase in volume with Singapore, Dubai, and Malaysia being the primary export markets this year.

Umesh, proprietor of KR Flora, a local flower exporter in Bengaluru said, “After the pandemic slump, the exports have picked up well this year. We have seen a 30 per cent increase in export volumes this year to 20,000 bunches of roses. Thailand, Dubai, Malaysia, and Singapore have been our major export markets this year.”

Flowering anew

Several other exporters from Bengaluru, businessline spoke to, have also noticed similar trajectories with their export volume seeing a 15-30 per cent increase. This comes as a relief to the producers as the flower markets had suffered in the last two years, due to the pandemic restrictions, rising freight costs and unseasonal rainfall.

In tandem with international exports, the local markets too are seeing a good performance this year. Rhea Karuturi, Co-founder of Hoovu Fresh, said, “The prices of rose stems have spiked to ₹17 per stem and are expected to shoot up to ₹24 by Valentine’s Day.”

Additionally, the production also has been good this year, given that there weren’t any heavy, irregular rainfalls and the temperature too was favourable, she added.

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The overall export volume for this year’s Valentine’s Day sales is, however, yet to be known. Last year, international rose export spiked 137 per cent from 2.17 lakh kg to 5.15 lakh kg and domestic exports spiked by 205 per cent from 1.03 lakh kg to 3.15 lakh kg, according to the data aggregated by Bengaluru International Airport.

In south India, Bengaluru and Hosur in Tamil Nadu are the two largest flower-growing regions with the Garden City being the largest exporter of cut roses in the country. 

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