Rose exports India

Rose Farm in Pushkar, Rajasthan. Photograph by Cathryn Game

Indian rose exporters, hit by a dip in local production, have been bracing for lower margins. Domestic production has been low because rains were spread over more days, depriving rose farms of the sunlight they require for growth. Coupled with higher labour and input costs, weather patterns are "definitely impacting production and bottom lines massively," said Manjunath Reddy, managing director of Bangalore-based Meghna Floritech Ltd and a committee member of the South India Floriculture Association, an industry body, which estimates a reduction of 20-25% in rose production this year.

Indian rose farms are located in two clusters at Bangalore and Pune, and flower growers typically export over 60% of produce between September and March. For the rose trade, the festive season running up to Valentine’s Day on 14 February, is a boom time for sales. Roses from Rajasthan have traditionally been used for fragrance, essence, rose water, and other edible products. But now Rajasthan has a research facility at the agriculture university in Udaipur to help farmers grow roses for consumers overseas.

"We expect this Valentine's to be quite normal and the prices that we are talking about are pretty much the same prices that we did last year, but in rupee context, it is better though our sales currency is euro," said K.S. Ramakrishna, managing director of Bangalore-based Karuturi Global Ltd, the world’s largest exporter of roses. The rupee has depreciated 22% against the dollar, by 9% against the euro and 33% against the yen since the start of this year, according to Bloomberg data. That translates into more rupees for every dollar, euro or yen that is earned by exporters, who had been hit last year by the steep appreciation of the local unit.

India’s floriculture exports for the year ended March were valued at Rs338 crore, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, or Apeda, a Union government agency. Cut flowers such as rose stems constitute around 25% of India’s floriculture exports, which are less than 1% of the international trade in flowers. Commercial floriculture gives greater yield to farmers and takes less labour and water than traditional foodgrain.

Livemint
Ajay Sukumaran