Marketing

Modern commerce options

enhance export scope
Most of Brazils flower production and trade is
concentrated in the southeast region, particularly So
Paulo state. The ability to participate in international
markets is increasing as the traditional markets are
joined by modern commerce options.
By Mauricio C. Mathias

wenty percent of all

Brazilians live in So
Paulo state, producing
33% of the nations economy.
Two city markets, two cooperatives and one trading company,
all within a 1,5-hour drive
from the states capital So
Paulo city, are the meeting
place for plants and their buyers, channelling product from
So Paulo and neighbouring
states to stores all over Brazil
and overseas customers.

Traditional market
The city of Campinas has historically benefited from its
strategic location, well served
by highways and near the main
flower producing areas; it
boasts Latin Americas largest
dedicated full-time flower market. The 10-year-old Mercado das
Flores at Ceasa is essentially a
farmers market (95% of all
plant sellers are growers themselves) built and run by the city.
Already expanded once, it is

Veiling Holambra puts emphasis on speed and while only 2% of all sales are to overseas buyers, it
is increasing quickly.

24

FlowerTECH 2005, vol. 8/no. 2

The Mercado das Flores, Ceasa in Campinas is a produce market which features
Latin Americas largest full-time flower market.

now covers 30,000 m2 under

one roof, a working base for
386 brokers. It is open six days
a week, but two days are exclusively for the 8,000 registered
buyers, so that truckers that
have sometimes travelled 3,000
km do not run the risk of going
back home empty-handed.
Luis Pereira, manager of the
flower market for five years
now, tells us, Brazils plant
market is still driven mainly by
dates where flowers are a must:
Mothers Day and so on, but
Ceasa creates year round business by offering something for
everyone. Here you can buy cut
and potted flowers, landscape
plants and products such as
pots and fertilizer; additional
stalls also sell items for florists.
Our main customers are florists
and wholesalers who know
they can find it all here.
Trucks of all sizes, with
license plates from far away
places show he is right. But,
we are not focused on export-

ing; there is a long way to go in

product standardization among
growers, and achieving a constant supply throughout the
year. Mercado das Flores
strength is in its numbers, an
authentic marketplace, vibrant
with buyers from all over Brazil
purchasing flowers fresh from
nearby growers. This large gathering of people, however, complicates issues related to logistics and internal transportation,
slowing down the overall transaction speed.

Dutch auction system

In the nearby town of
Holambra, another main trader
in So Paulo, Veiling Holambra
puts emphasis on speed. Their
trademark Dutch auction has
made the coop famous
throughout Brazil. A sales powerhouse, its two electronic
kloks sell over 500 plant
species during the year, averaging one transaction every 1.67
seconds in 2004. The Veiling

www.HortiWorld.nl

Marketing
Although focused on
the internal market,
Cooperflora and
Floranet believe they
have enough quality
and quantity to export.

has a second trade mode outside the auction, acting as a

broker between suppliers and
clients.
Pedro de Andrade, manager
of the Planning Division presents more 2004 figures: 473
active clients bought 110 million plant units from 280 coop
members. Financially the
Veiling has averaged 20%
growth in the last 5 years and
forecasts 23% for 2005. It has
attracted growers from outside
the initial community of Dutch
descendents that started it,
15% of the revenue now comes
from outside the region of
Holambra, sometimes from as
far as the Northeast, which
sends in tropical flowers. That
resulted in a fast increase in the
number of offered products,
which in turn has attracted
more buyers.
Such market success has
resulted in the Veiling outgrowing its present buildings.
Theodorus Breg, a Phalaenopsis
grower himself and vice-president of the Board of Directors,
explains that expansion is
under way. The first 8,000 m2
are already built and currently
work continues on a distribution centre for the main supermarket chains buying at the

www.HortiWorld.nl

Veiling. The new area is less

than 10 minutes from the present location, and the project
will be completed when we
reach 50,000 m2.
Direct sales to supermarkets
increased 55% from 2003 to
2004, so that half of the new
area will be taken up by their
flower distribution centres.
Exporting is also more recent
for the Veiling, at least on a
continuous basis. Right now
only 2% of all sales are to overseas buyers, mainly in the USA
and the auctions in the
Netherlands, but its increasing
quickly.

greenhouses, etc. These costs

could not be recouped with
larger volumes at an auction
system, but only with direct
sales creating stronger bonds
with their distributors.
Moyss Lupion, Floranets
general director, says that
among his 230 buyers, the
main ones are wholesalers and
larger flower shops. He projects
17% revenue growth for
Floranet in 2005, above their
11% 5-year average, sharing the
markets optimism. Around
11.7 million plant units were
sold in 2004; similar to the
auction they charge a 4% trad-

ing fee and provide a payment

guarantee to suppliers.
Cooperflora has had its share
of foreign visitors, and is hopeful of doing business with
international traders that want
to establish themselves in
Brazil. The main obstacle to
increasing their exports has
been the lack of companies
that can provide them with
international means to guarantee payment. Although focused
on the internal market they feel
that they have enough quality
and quantity to export.

Japanese inspired clock

The coop SP Flores has existed
for four years, and recently it
has moved to a new location
where it sells the flowers of its
119 members, Flower Tech is
the first magazine to visit.
Located in the town of Mogi
das Cruzes, the brand new
5,000 m2 hall is going to be the
home of Brazils first electronic

Direct sales
Cooperflora is another coop in
the town of Holambra and it
has a mutually exclusive trading agreement with trading
company Floranet. Cooperflora
was started out by a group of
growers that left the Veiling in
1998 seeking a distinct commercialisation model, it now
has 47 members supplying
mostly cut flowers. Their policy
is one of a lean company
structure and top quality products. They believe that high
quality comes at a higher production cost resulting from
payments of royalties, better

Tatiane Renda, administrative manager SP Flores; the coops new location is going
to be the home of Brazils first electronic auction outside Holambra.

FlowerTECH 2005, vol. 8/no. 2

25

Marketing

Daily city market

Figures related to the worlds fourth largest city, So
Paulo, usually are immense at Ceagesp this is no
exception. With a total area of 700,000 m2 it is Latin
Americas largest produce market. It sells fruit, vegetables, fish, and flowers, and even though its all
done in the same area, trading of these items does
not occur at the same time.
The flower market takes place in the early morning
under an open-sided covered area; landscaping trees
and grass are sold outside. Some 50,000 people
walk through it everyday buying plants, flowers and
florist products from 756 stalls. Stall owners here
are a mix of growers selling their own flowers
together with some traders. To help move things
around a small army of 3,000 carriers haul plants
on carts for customers. These are mainly flower
shops, landscape gardeners, funeral homes and an
increasing number of the general public.

At least in urban centres, as habitual flower consumption becomes more common and fashionable,
people are coming to the market to look for novelties or just to admire the show of colours. Flora
Wittmann Farms, specialized in climbing plants was
the centre of attention among visitors that wanted
to photograph their unique Aristoloquia gigantea, a
plant from the Amazon.
Euclides Amorim, head of the press office, explains
that this Ceagesp is the main one of twelve throughout the state, and that an average of 240,000 t of
produce are sold here every month, 29,000 t are
plants and flowers. The markets statistics department keeps daily records of the volume and prices
on all items commercialised in the market, as well
as their place of origin. This data is tabulated and
published to keep track of seasonal fluctuations and
its effect on price.

members, is the development

of a garden centre adjacent to
the auction room. Plants
would be sold directly to the
general customer, and it would
also be a venue for any items
not sold at the auction.
SP Flores sales reached
US$1.9 million in 2004 and it
aims to double that in 2005, so
far they have met their projections. Their main buyers are
wholesalers in So Paulo and
Rio de Janeiro, 60% of all flowers sold are orchids. So far the
coop only acts as a broker to
local sales, but some of their
members are exporters themselves, and 40 growers have
their own micro-propagation
laboratories.

Internet-based trading

Ceagesp services around 50,000 visitors daily, representing flower

Mr. Witmann with manager Oscar in the background from Flora

shops, landscape gardeners, funeral homes and is increasingly

Wittmann Farms were the centre of attention among visitors with

popular with the general public.

their exclusive climber, Aristoloquia, a plant from the Amazon.

auction outside Holambra. The

inspiration is different, however; Brazil is the home of the
largest Japanese community
outside Japan, and this region
is renowned for its many farmers of Japanese ancestry. This is
visible in the coop where only
two of its members are not of
Japanese descent. Its president,
Katsuya Araki, an immigrant
and orchid grower himself was

26

FlowerTECH 2005, vol. 8/no. 2

pivotal in obtaining a donation

from the Japanese government
that paid for 50% of the project, the remainder financed by
local banks and the members
themselves. Mrio Takeda, general manager explains that a
new phase of expansion is
about to begin now that the
construction work is completed: We are going after new
members, the more the better

irrespective of descent naturally.

Automation company Fujitsu
has already been contracted to
provide the software and hardware for the auction clock in a
150-seat arena, expected to be
operational in two years time.
Another project to encourage
the involvement of an estimated 300 growers in surrounding
towns, that are not yet coop

Agrovirtual is a new internetbased trading company partly

owned by Antnio Bliska, faculty member at Unicamp, back
in Campinas. At present it is a
virtual market place for horticultural products, but it plans
to broker sales of flowers in the
near future. At their website a
grower can buy something
from a specific supplier or use
an auction system for registered
users only. This is a type of bidding system where all suppliers
of a specified product (or
plant, in the future) get to bid
their price, but only the buyer
gets to see all replies.
Agrovirtual would be a virtual
sales facilitator, not owning any
actual goods. Businesses pay
according to volume of sales
generated by the site.
mauriciomathias@hotmail.com

www.HortiWorld.nl