For the UK home-grown cut rose industry, the arrival of South American imports initiated a decline in sales to the point where it is now a niche industry. British growers were unable to compete against countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica in terms of price and production.

South American imported flowers came to be seen as the value option for many mass flower sellers from garage forecourts to supermarkets. However, the South American flower industry has been investing heavily in research and development, and Colombia in particular is now producing not just value-led, but highly sought-after flowers.

Covent Garden Market Authority's director of business development and support, Helen Evans, says the product is an important part of the market mix. 'The roses are great quality and new varieties are coming in all the time,' she adds.

'Colombian roses in particular are very popular, especially a variety called Freedom. There has been an incremental increase in quality, with lots of new colours and head size. For florists that are in the contract business, they are price conscious but at the same time they want quality because flowers need to last at least seven days if they are going into a hotel or restaurant.'

According to figures from HM Revenue & Customs, last year the UK imported from Colombia flowers worth £32.2 million, and from Ecuador flowers worth £1.4m. The third-largest was Costa Rica with £780,312.

Importer and packer MM Flowers, which supplies Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's among others, says in the last 12 months its average tonnage from South America has increased from 71t in September 2011 to 92t in September 2012.

'An increase of just short of 30 per cent,' says a spokesman. The company says by far, Colombia is the largest exporter it deals with.

Changes in shipping conditions have also helped improve the quality of flowers imported from South America. IAG Cargo is one of the world's leading shippers of South American flowers.

Last year it transported more than 700t of flowers just for Valentine's Day on behalf of Iberia Cargo and British Airways World Cargo. Most of the flowers transported on Iberia's flights were grown in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala and sold to florists in Spain, the Netherlands and the UK.

According to an IAG spokesman, to ensure flowers are delivered to shops and their customers in a fresh condition, a robust temperature-controlled process is deployed. The Perishables Handling Centre at Heathrow airport, one of the main hubs of Iberia Cargo and British Airways World Cargo, is a key part of this. Flowers are kept there in refrigerated storage at the correct temperature and humidity and at no time is the 'cold chain' broken.

There are also opportunities opening up for sea shipping with low reefer rates, which are encouraging Colombian and Ecuadorian flower exporters to make the shift from air to sea transport on key long-haul trades to the UK.

At the Cool Logistics Cold Chain conference in Panama last year, Camila Camacho, FloraHolland's local area manager for Latin America, said that Holland's principal flower auction had been exploring shipping South American blooms by sea.

Camacho added that the price difference initially drove Colombian flowers into reefer containers, but customers, including UK supermarkets, were also starting to see the positive results of the switch in terms of perishable losses.

While shipping flowers by air involves a lead time of 17 days, the sea alternative takes 34 days from Bogotá in Colombia to the UK. However, the ability to control temperatures throughout the voyage was, according to Camacho, compensating for longer transit times and enabling shippers to get products to market and achieve the rigorous shelf and vase life expectancies demanded by supermarkets. 'The cool chain is better this way than moving flowers by air, where it's impossible to control the cool chain and the fluctuations in temperature are very difficult to manage,' she explains. 'Also it helps lower the carbon footprint for volumes going to Europe and this is important for supermarkets in the UK.'

Ecuador has also been steadily improving its offer, with the Ecuador Trade Office in the UK keen to point out the variety of product that is now being imported into the British market. 'Ecuador is considered as a perfect place for growing flowers,' says a Trade Office spokesman.

'Ecuadorian cut flowers have deep and bright colours and longer durability, due to the fact that they are grown along the equator, with pure water, cold nights and, particularly, they benefit from 12 hours of sun exposure every day. These characteristics are strongly sought after by the international market.

'Ecuadorian production and exports of flowers have been steadily growing during the last 25 years. During this period the production of flowers has attained an important level of specialisation.'

The spokesman added that there is also an important production of tropical flowers along the coastal region and that the country does not just produce roses but also Gypsophilas, Pompons, Carnations, Alstroemerias, Aster, Lirios, mini Carnations, orchids, and a wide selection of summer flowers such us sunflowers, Callas, Gerberas, Hypericum, Lisianthus and Limonium.

'Producers and exporters of Ecuadorian flowers seek to attain excellence along with sustainable work and environmental protection during the flowers' productive process. For this reason, there are an increasing number of farms obtaining national and international quality certifications, granted after exhaustive analysis of their production and working conditions,' explains the spokesman.

With a desire in the marketplace for the product, the South American bloom continues to offer British consumers a little slice of Latin America in their homes. —

Ecuadorian cut flowers have deep and bright colours and longer durability, due to the fact that they are grown along the equator