In 2006, the Union government set up a market centre at Alsmeer in The Netherlands to facilitate flower exports from India.
In 2006, the Union government set up a market centre at Alsmeer in The Netherlands to facilitate flower exports from India. The aim was to make the country a player in the international flower market. However, that dream lies in tatters today.
The Union government recently closed down the Market Facilitation Centre (MFC) for want of response from exporters. Incidentally, an MFC set up in Mumbai remains unused for the last 18 months, with flower growers showing little interest. The MFC was set up to enable exporters supply large quantities of flowers directly to buyers abroad round the year.
Asit Tripathi, chairman of the Delhi-based Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), said the commerce ministry felt it was not economically viable to continue the MFC without the support of the flower industry.
Sources said the main hitch was the refusal of the exporters to partake 1% of the cost incurred to run the one-man MFC in The
Netherlands. “The exporters share would not have come to more than Rs20 lakh, a meagre sum compared to Rs50-60 lakh they would ear per sale. But the exporters wanted the government to continue the subsidy to the flower industry,” said a senior APEDA official.
A Mumbai-based exporter said it was not possible for exporters to share 1% of the cost when they rarely receive payments on time. “We decided to shift our focus to exporting flowers to Japan as their trade freight is low.”
Europe levies an import duty of 7-12% on cut flowers exported from India as against the zero duty it imposes on India’s competitors from Israel and Columbia.
India’s share in the $65-billion global floriculture market is a mere 0.01%. The Indian floriculture market is worth about Rs2,000 crore and is growing at about 21% a year.
Meanwhile, a constructed MFC at Goregaon lies vacant due to the inability of state agriculture authorities to convince the highly competitive and unorganised floriculture industry to move to the centre. Senior agriculture officials said the primary reason for the industry’s reluctance to look at exports is because it involves regulation.
Moreover, the domestic demand is huge, with a sufficient number of buyers.
Exporters also point out that India’s infrastructure does not support the quick movement of perishable items like flowers.
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