Dubai Flower Centre set to launch market

Dubai: The Dubai Flower Centre (DFC) will launch a flower market tentatively in the second quarter of this year as part of efforts to help small flower retailers overcome the current economic slump.

The flower market will be situated on the first floor of DFC and is in proximity to Dubai Cargo Village. It is a custom cleared area for floricultural tenants offering their products to the local market, a senior official said.

The range of tenants based on the first floor will provide various flowers, plants and accessories creating a dynamic platform in the floriculture trade for the first time in the region. Furthermore, this will facilitate those in Dubai, the whole of the UAE and GCC to buy what they need from products sourced from around the world

"The flower market aims to cater to retailers who can't afford storage rooms and need only small space to market their products," said Rajeev Kumar, Business Development Manager of Dubai Airports. "When the flower centre starts to operate, it will open as early as 5 am for customers to buy fresh flowers."

DFC is the industry-leading transhipment centre for cool chain processes that effectively safeguard product quality and maximise shelf life, thereby enhancing profitability. It is also a one-stop shop for local and international traders, producers and exporters of cut flowers, plants, foliage and fruits and vegetables. DFC currently houses around 19 tenants from 11 countries that offer a diverse range of products and varieties of cut flowers, plants, foliage, fruits and vegetables.

Based in Dubai, which sits at the geographical crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, the Dubai Flower Centre serves as an international market with over two billion potential consumers and a local GCC market with a GDP of nearly $540 billion.

To have a wide variety of flowers readily available, Dubai imports from several countries, including Holland, Kenya, Ecuador, Iran and India.

DFC also allows local cut flower growers in the region to look beyond local markets, to realise the enormous potential of the growing demand in other parts of the world. It will also encourage growers involved in traditional farming to shift to floriculture.