Now the patterns of flower-buying have been laid bare in a data release from the Central Statistics Bureau (CSB) released Wednesday.
In 2015 Latvia imported flowers worth €9.8 million; the main import partners were the Netherlands, Poland, and Finland. Compared to 2014, last year flower imports increased by 40%.
Of all flowers, roses were imported in the greatest amounts – in 2015 their import value accounted for €4.3 million, which is an increase of 40.1% as compared to the previous year.
The following flowers were imported in smaller amounts: dried flowers like you see in offices (€1.2 million), multipurpose chrysanthemums (€0.8 million), buttonhole-friendly carnations (€0.4 million) and funeral-friendly lilies (€0.2 million).
By far the largest share of flowers are imported from the Netherlands (imports value €9.1 million), followed by Poland (€0.4), and Finland (€0.16).
Small numberss of flowers were also imported from as far afield as Kenya.
Meanwhile exports value of flowers reached €6.8 million, which is a remarkable increase of 69.5%, compared to 2014.
Roses continue to be the most popular flower for both import and export, but the star performer last year was the chrysanthemum, which saw exports really take off with a value of €1.6 million.
Russia is the main partner in exports of flowers; 6 million flowers were exported to this country in 2015. Smaller quantities of flowers were exported to Lithuania and to Estonia.
