The tropical flowers and foliage sector of Costa Rica this week showed its diversity and different uses for its products through floral design workshops with buyers from the United States and Canada. The objective was to promote trends, new applications and color palettes, to generate more business for the seven national companies that participated.
The products used during the workshops were foliage such as: cordyline leaves and tips, dracaena song of India and song of Jamaica, white sanderiana, monstera, among others. As well as tropical flowers such as heliconia and heliconia psittacorum, musa, bird of paradise, ginger and ginger shampoo, costus, etc.
According to Álvaro Piedra, Export Director of Procomer, this is one of the sectors that was most affected last year due to the pandemic, however, it has proven to be resilient and able to excel in international markets.
Recovering market
As of the first quarter of 2021, products such as ornamental plants reported exports of $ 37 million, $ 8 million more than in the same period of 2020. Flowers and buds, meanwhile, had a growth of $ 4.5 million, going from $ 8.7 million from January to April 2020 to $ 13.3 million in 2021, while foliage and leaves increased from $ 9.1 million in the first four months of 2020 to $ 11.5 million in this 2021. “These numbers fill us with hope and motivate us to continue working on strategies to promote and position this sector, to continue generating business,” said Piedra.
The workshops, called “Tropical Dreams by Essential Costa Rica”, were in charge of the floral designer María Del Mar Gómez, from the Juno firm, dedicated to art, fashion and floral and botanical design. Gómez stated that the tropical flowers and foliage of Costa Rica, due to their sizes, shapes and colors, provide a contrast and design opportunities that are very different from those of traditional flowers and have the advantage of a much longer useful life.
Inspiring floral designers
“We hope these workshops have inspired floral designers around the world to experiment more with tropical flowers and foliage and include them in their repertoire of designs,” added the floral designer.
The workshops were given with the support of Procomer’s Commercial Promotion Offices in the United States (Miami, Houston and New York) and Canada, with the participation of around 60 buyers from these markets.
