The International Flower Auction, Bangalore (IFAB) plans to sell 500 printed roses during the Valentine’s Day period. The roses printed with messages command a higher price.
Murthy said they had sold 150 printed roses last year.
At places such as MG Road, Brigade Road, Mantri Square mall, Forum, and Bangalore International Airport, each such rose was sold for Rs150 whereas the price was Rs40 at other places in the city.
G Shankar Murthy, general manager, IFAB, said they have a tie-up with a florist who has the printing facility.
He said the IFAB sends the roses to the florist to print messages on them only after receiving the money from the customers.
The customers have to collect the printed roses after 3pm on February 13. Murthy said they have already received 300 enquiries for printed roses.
Meanwhile, florists in the city are ensuring that there is no dearth of roses this Valentine’s Day, unlike last year, as more than 20 lakh rose stems are expected to be auctioned at the IFAB.
Last year, the IFAB had sold 15 lakh roses from February 8 to February 14. Murthy said they expected to sell 20 lakh roses this year. He said 1.93 lakh roses, worth Rs7 lakh, were sold on Wednesday and they received another two lakh roses for sale on February 9.
Sources said floriculturists from Anekal, Athibele, Bagalur, Berike Doddaballapur, Hosur, Sarjapur and Thali were supplying eight lakh to 10 lakh rose stems to various markets in Bangalore.
Raghuraj Urs, a flower merchant at KR Market, said he expected that more roses would be supplied this year owing to conducive weather.
CM Mahesh, a wholesale florist at KR Market, said he had sold 20,000 roses to retail florists last year during Valentine’s Day.
He said while a rose cost Rs10 last year, this year he expected to sell each flower for Rs12-Rs13. He added that retailers were expected to sell them for Rs25 each.
GK Vasanthkumar, managing director, IFAB, said roses worth Rs50 crore were expected to be exported this February for Valentine’s Day celebrations.
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