“I’ve been exporting flowers to France for more than thirty years, but what’s happening today, I’ve never experienced before,” says Erwin van As of Flor’As Fleurs et Plantes. The value of plant and flower exports to France has been declining dramatically since 2022. Particularly suppliers to French florists have seen their sales drop.
While Erwin van As and his brother Rien started out as hauliers providing regular flower deliveries to France, today, customers can also place their orders through their webshop. In the past two years, Flor’As has seen a decline in trade, however. Erwin van As provides several examples that paint a rather grim picture: where the company used to send five trucks to France, only two are operational today. Any remaining products are sent through export shipping services. To keep their heads above water, Van As regularly transports fish in one of the company’s own trucks.
Where Van As used to visit twelve to fifteen clients on each of his hauls to France, there are now only seven left, he outlines. Many customers – flower shops – have quit, and the ones remaining are ordering a lot less. “They used to fill up the entire store once a week. Today, they are much more cautious, spending only EUR 100 per day.” Van As tells the story of a customer who only sold EUR 16 worth in one day. Another client was standing in front of him, crying; that’s how bad his shop was doing.
