Christmas trees are in tight supply this year, due to reduced plantings and low prices in previous seasons.
“Looking long term, it is because there were fewer plantings about seven to nine years ago,” Alan Jakins of A Jakins Christmas Trees & Son told FPJ. “A lot of growers then got very low prices, and so decided not to plant.
“It will take two to three more years, I think, before we start to see things steady out,” he added.
Jakins reports that prices are definitely on the up this year as a result.
“I would say that prices are about 20-25 per cent up on last season if you look at the retail price points,” he said.
Demand is “about normal”, he continued, but there was a bit more panic in the marketplace two weeks ago.
“I think a few wholesalers have been let down and maybe had not managed to get the trees from their suppliers they had hoped for,” he explained.
“At one point a couple of weeks ago, we were turning down orders, but now we are comfortable with the orders we have.”
A Jakins, has sold more trees than last year and at better prices. “That is just from a personal point of view,” said Jakins. “I would say that the trees have been too cheap in previous years, and this season the prices are about right,” he added.
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