Antalya enjoys Mother's Day flower exports

Forty-five million flowers worth about $7 million were exported from Antalya this year for Mother's Day.

Mother's Day, celebrated in the second week of May every year, will be celebrated on Sunday, May 12 this year. Central Anatolian Ornamental Plants and Products Exporters Association (OAIB) Chairman İsmail Yılmaz evaluated the ongoing mobility in the gift and floriculture sectors, stressing that 2019 pleased the producers working in the export-oriented cut-flower sector.

İsmail Yılmaz noted that the situation in the domestic market and outdoor decoration sector in cut flowers was not as satisfactory. "We have a 30 percent loss in the domestic market compared to last year. Last year for Mother's Day, we provided flowers worth about $7 million to the domestic market. We expect this figure to remain at $5 million this year," he added. Pointing out that the cut-flower industry exported to 81 countries last year, Yılmaz said they targeted the Gulf countries with outdoor flower producers in the economic balancing environment. "We started to move toward the Gulf countries. We see that there is an increase in figures," he continued. "In the coming days, this situation will be reflected positively in the sector. We exported 45 million branches of flowers worth about $7 million for Mother's Day. Holland, the U.K., Germany, Romania and Ukraine are our top five markets."