As Albanians spend on a bunch of flowers for Valentine's.

Joni, a flower merchant for years, has a flower retail store on Durres Street. It tells of the Monitor that in the past three years the flow of work has increased significantly, and this is because in Albanians (not only Tirana) the tradition of flower donation is growing.

The rose is the best - selling flower yet the most expensive one, he adds. Lucky for the flower stores this time, the party shot in the middle of the week. If he were to hit the weekend, people's tendency is to move out of town.

In terms of prices; they vary according to the order's budget. They're up from $5,000, up to $100,000. And it's mostly the men who buy for their wives.

The giant bubbles, where the rose number exceeds the three figures, have become a recent trend. The average price of a rose is $200, and a bouquet of at least 100 roses costs an average of up to 20,000 dollars. But according to Joni, there is no shortage of high - number messages.

One of the shop's clients ordered a bouquet of 500 roses, which, in addition, are difficult to transport to destination, - Joni tells about the Monitor. 

Flowing the Flowing Business

The flower trade and plant cultivation business has seen a strong increase in the last three years, reflecting a tendency of Albanians towards naturality, the donation of flowers in cases of joys and disasters, the tendency of businesses to care for the surrounding environment and public works for urban decorations.

According to Dogan's data, imports of trees and plants, roots, flowers, and decorative leaves grew by 27 percent compared to the year before. Since 2013, imports of this group have increased by two digits (see the graph).

During 2017 flower imports exceeded the value of $1 billion. While the months whose imports are higher in value are the very holidays, and the lowest during summer months when domestic production is even higher. During February and March of the following year, over 300 million dollars of flowers were imported. Albanian males appear to have become more romantic in recent years, while in February 2017, imports increased by 45%.

Market actors say the flow of work has increased, but people demand more economic flowers and demand that they spend less.

Italy remains the main importer of flowers in the country. Imports from this country during 2017 are worth $507 million. While the Netherlands ranks second with 256 million dollars, almost half the value of imports from Italy.

Greece is third in terms of the weight of imports. The flowers imported from Greece during the year we left behind amount to $112 million.

However, domestic production remains modest

Five-year-old Valbona cultivates 4 dozenm roseland in a village of Durres. And yet it must wait April to go to market. Seeing the trend and lack of domestic flower production when he returned from immigration to Italy, he decided that in the land he owned, not to plant ordinary agricultural cultures, but roses. Valbona tells of the Monitor that mostly there is work with Tirana. During the flower season, it is a supplier of many of the capital's shops.

To produce throughout the year requires major investments in technology and contemporary greenhouses, which cannot cover financially. This is also due to its small area, while its fellow villagers are not interested in this kind of culture in order to benefit from the economies of the scale. For example, the Netherlands, where the climate is far from favorable for rose cultivation, is currently one of the largest distributors in the world, along with Africa and Ecuador.

tillering experts show that winter is the time when flowers are imported almost entirely, since in the country their cultivation is artisanically, and this hinders their growth in all seasons. Over the years, large companies have sophisticated growth methods.

In the summer, the price of flowers decline significantly because of increased production.

Jon, a flower merchant, relates that it is primarily taken from outside, even more expensive.

I tried to get the produced roses in the country, but because of technology, the plants produced in the country are not standardized. It should be added that domestic production is seasonal - Joni tells about the Monitor.