GARES held a seminar to celebrate overseas sales of two million roses on April 16 

◇ Officials including Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Park Soo-young view roses at a seminar held to celebrate overseas sales of two million roses held on April 16 at the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services (GARES)ⓒ Gyeonggi G News

Exports of the new rose varieties developed by Gyeonggi Province have surpassed two million units in the six years since their launch in overseas markets.

From 2009 to February this year, the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services (GARES) exported 2.123 million rose seeds to 19 countries including Ecuador, Columbia, Mexico and Kenya. A total of five varieties were exported: Green Beauty, Deep Purple, Rock Fire, Silver Shadow and Ice Bear.

Domestic floriculture farms have long cultivated seeds imported from other countries, paying royalties and exporting the flowers grown; however, Gyeonggi Province is the first in Korea to actually develop and export new seeds and to receive royalties. Under the contract with the exporting agency, Olirosen (Korean agency Wonwoo Trading), at one dollar per unit, the province has so far received a total of USD 2.12 million in royalties.

Gyeonggi’s rose exports began with an initial sale of 50,000 Green Beauty roses, which feature beautiful coloration of apricot and light green, to Ecuador in North America and Kenya in Africa. The Green Beauty is a new variety developed in 2005; it has many petals and blooms that last a long time even after being cut.

With the Deep Purple winning the grand prize in a variety contest at Expo Flora Russia held in Moscow in 2012, Gyeonggi Province established its presence in the global rose market. A two-toned rose with light pink lower petals and dark red toward the edge, the thornless Deep Purple is easy to handle.

Deep Purple joined the ranks of million-selling roses with single-variety exports totaling 1.727 million units. Sales of 49,000 units were realized in 2011, the first year of exports, followed by 420,000 units in 2012, and 1.033 million units last year after gaining recognition at Expo Flora Russia.

◇ Officials participating in the event pose for the camera after a rice cake-cutting ceremony. ⓒ Gyeonggi G News 

◇ Roses including Deep Purple were displayed at the entrance of the venue, attracting the attention of visitors. ⓒ Gyeonggi G News

Gyeonggi Province exported a total of 1.04 million roses last year, accounting for 2.1% of the global rose seed market. An industry representative commented that it is a remarkable achievement that Gyeonggi Province, with only 20 years of development history, realized such progress in a global market led by Europe and its 200-year history in the industry.

GARES held a seminar on April 17 in its main auditorium with Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Park Soo-young and GARES President Lim Jae-wook, celebrating the export of over two million roses and discussing ways to increase floricultural exports.

The seminar included the following presentations: Policy and Development Plans to Increase Floricultural Exports by Lee Young-sik, head of the Horticultural Management Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Global Rose Distribution Trend and Strategies to Increase Overseas Sales by Jeong Byoung-soo, CEO of Wonwoo Trading; and Successful Cases of Rose Sales in North America by Lee Young-soon, leader of the Horticultural Breeding Team of the GARES.

“Recently, the floricultural industry has been suffering from a decrease in domestic consumption and the limitations of exporting countries due to the obsolescence of production facilities and increases in distribution costs, presenting difficulties in securing stable exports,” said Lee Young-sik. “We should secure high-quality production infrastructure by renewing facilities, establish advanced distribution systems by building an integrated distribution center as a hub, increase consumption by developing promotional contents, and collect information to increase exports.”

“Gyeonggi’s rose exports are still in nascent stage, but overseas sales have increased 20-fold during the last five years, and it is projected that sales will continue to increase exponentially,” said Vice Governor Park Soo-young. “We’re facing many difficulties due to the FTAs with the U.S. and Australia, but our agricultural industry will be able to develop into a world-class industry if we intensively cultivate specialized crops and combine IT and BT convergence technologies.”

◇ Lee Young-sik, head of the Horticultural Management Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs delivers a presentation on the topic of Policy and Development Plans to Increase Floricultural Exports. ⓒ Gyeonggi G News

ⓒ Gyeonggi G News | Lee Jun-gyun eyekle@hanmail.net 

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