Will Florists Miss May Day Sales of Lily of the Valley due to Containment? The more the days pass, the more the probability of a dark scenario emerges.
Read also: Coronavirus: traders want aid to survive the closure
Closed like all businesses deemed non-essential, florists already assess the loss in recent weeks at more than 40 million euros. Last year, the French spent 22 million euros to buy sprigs of lily of the valley. "We await the address of the President of the Republic, Monday evening," recognizes Florent Moreau. The president of the French Federation of Artisans Florists (FFAF), which has 14,000 members, fears that the confinement will be extended beyond the weekend of May 1, "one of the biggest weekends of the year after Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas ” .
60% of companies suffered a 50 to 70% drop in turnover in MarchIn France, 31% of the sprigs of lily of the valley are bought from a florist, (25% in mass distribution), according to the panelist Kantar. Florent Moreau wrote to the Prime Minister, to make him aware of the seriousness of the situation.
If the containment were ever lifted, the florists asked for "a strict ban on street vending in order to avoid a new shortfall which could be fatal for many of them" . The FFAF "is alarmed for the florists, who may not be able to recover and relaunch their activity at the end of the confinement," he insists in this letter.
According to a survey by the federation, carried out from March 27 to April 2 among 1,572 companies, 60% suffered a drop of 50 to 70% in their turnover in March. This loss "is neither compensated by the State, nor covered by insurance: it is intolerable," protests Florent Moreau.
