Colombia Will Export 500 Million Flowers For Valentine's Day

    



    
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<p>More than 43,000 U. S. floral retailers are gearing up for the <chron>Valentine's Day</chron> season</p>
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    Flowers create job opportunities for over 200,000 Colombians

    
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<p><location>BOGOTA</location>, <location>Colombia</location>, <chron>Feb. 4</chron> /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- We are just two weeks away from celebrating <chron>Valentine's Day</chron> throughout the world.  For the past few months over 200,000 Colombians directly or indirectly employed in the flower industry have been diligently working to get ready for this most important season of the year that generates an estimated 12% of annual sales.</p>
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<p>Augusto Solano, President of Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, stated that, in order to meet the consumer demand for this major holiday, <location>Colombia</location> will dispatch over 500 million flowers on 28 daily flights destined for many international markets, particularly the <location>United States</location>, <location>Canada</location> and some European countries, loaded primarily with roses and farm-made bouquets.</p>
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<p>Solano said, "We are once again on the threshold of the most important season for our industry.  Colombian flower growers stand firm in their commitment to supply a wide variety of high-quality flowers for this important occasion to more than 43,000 florists and supermarkets in the <location>United States</location>."</p>
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<p><person>Mr. Solano</person> added that around 80% of all the flowers currently imported to the <location>United States</location> are from <location>Colombia</location> and account for almost two thirds of all flowers sold in the U.S. "The highest imports are made up of roses and farm-made bouquets.  We hope consumers keep on buying flowers as their ideal Valentine's gift to express their love and friendship."</p>
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    Sustainable Flowers
    
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<p>Augusto Solano pointed out that <location>Colombia</location> is one of the flower-producing countries that has made the greatest strides in social and environmental achievements. Over the past several years, the Asocolflores' member flower growers have made significant socio-environmental advances through Florverde®, an independent certification process created in 1996 in pursuit of providing solutions for improving the quality of life of floriculture workers, preserving and protecting the environment, and ensuring the highest production standards. Additionally, Solano stated that in 2009 almost 90,000 workers benefitted from social programs made possible by Colombian flower industry investment of over US$9 million.</p>
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For further information: Jairo Cadavid, [email protected], or Juliana Diaz, [email protected], both of the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, Asocolflores, Tel: 57 1 - 257 9311, Ext: 0160 - 0115, Bogota, Colombia