We did spend a bit of time, before resuming our journey through the Dutch flowers. So here we are in the incredible FloraHolland. The flower auction in Naaldwijk is located just a few kilometers from Amsterdam. FloraHolland is a cooperative, the bridge of a great fusion between producers of plants and flowers Dutch.It does immense in scope and coverage with over two million square meters of installations. Inside, there are more than 90% of Dutch trade flowers from the whole world. With 6 branches, about 40 rods-clock and national agencies with more than 6,000 people, including employees and collaborators it is one of the biggest festivals.
To visit it at the right time, you have to get up early and go along with the “merchants” into the auction. It seems like you are on Wall-Street, I swear, but for grabs there are stocks and shares, only thousands and thousands of flowers.
FloraHolland works based on supply and demand and at six o’clock they open the auction. Every day there are thousands of buyers present in dedicated rooms who can evaluate the different lots that parade and extract the necessary information from a giant screen that describes the name, country of origin, manufacturer and prices accordingly.
Within hours, millions of flowers and plants come into tens of thousands of transactions (115,000 per day), a turnover of four million euro per year. When a buyer makes his purchase, the game of goods purchased is carried by means of internal transport, usually within 1 hour, in the space that the fair reserves to every single buyer.
Around us, in fact, the “traffic of flowers” is impressive.
By Ina K
Photos: @RondoneR
