With International Women’s Day behind us, this is a good time to take stock of the Dutch ornamentals export to Russia. Due to the sanctions imposed, total exports from the Netherlands to the Eastern European country dropped, but flowers were exempt. So is there still any trade with Russia, and to what extent is trade still possible?
While roses can be exported to Russia, rose shrubs cannot. This is just one example of how the sanctions work, permitting the export of flowers to Russia but formally banning the export of plants and parent materials. According to Royal FloraHolland spokesperson Michel van Schie, “The limitations mainly concern financial settlement”.
Floridata keeps an annual record of the Dutch top-10 export countries. In 2021, Russia was number nine on that list with an export value of EUR 185 million. “Last year, Russia dropped out of the top 10,” says Wesley van den Berg of Floridata. “Its place was taken by the United States,” he continues. Though unable to provide any hard data, he speaks of a “huge plummeting” of sales to Russia, that is “particularly due to the import ban on plants”.
