After a two - yr merger with Rose Connect , part of the Dutch Flower Group , Rosalink has been maneuver severally for almost one twelvemonth now . Looking back on this year , for this importer with over 20 twelvemonth of experience in the import of African roses , it was a thought-provoking but successful year with in force prospects for 2021 . " Due to the scarceness and effective demand in late calendar month , orders from retail provider are coming in earlier than common , " sound out owner Erik Bruine de Bruin . However , he is not getting too unrestrained yet . " client may be look for more sure thing , but in some European countries , the situation is still far from certain . Due to the current lockdown in France , for deterrent example , we are already being face with cancellations " .
Erik Bruine de Bruin
Independentafter a two - year mergerSince 1999 Rosalink has been importing roses from Africa , principally from Uganda , Kenya , Tanzania and Zambia and after a merger of 2 class , Rosalink retrieve its independence in 2020 after both party had agreed to extend independently . " We teach a lot from the DFG menstruum and we took this experience with us to the Modern Rosalink . With a connection of more than 50 farms , Rosalink is presently one of the largest supplier of African roses .
ChallengesThe year started as planned , but when the corona crisis set out , the situation became , as for many in the diligence , challenging . " When the merger ended , we again were a kind of start - up company and after two good months , January and February that went according to design , we had a dip in March due to the restrictive corona measures . Fortunately , the dip did not took that long - for about 2 to 3 week , we had a discriminating fall in turnover and results - partly because we chiefly supply retail provider . At the beginning of the crisis , the supermarkets distribution centers ( DC ’s ) were mainly busy supplying the supermarkets with the ' basic necessities ' and did not have the capacity and time for flowers " .
Fortunately , the situation normalized quite apace and the demand for flowers blame up again , after which the next challenge pass ; expensive air freight . " As a result of the air freight problem , the capacity became importantly depleted , causing breeze shipment rates to skyrocket . In May , for example , when demand for flowers was gamey , we were sometimes dealing with bivalent rate so as to provide our customer " .
On top of that , bad atmospheric condition in Africa resulted in a considerably blue production than in other twelvemonth . " Normally we import around 1 million stem a twenty-four hours , but now this was plus or minus 20 percentage gloomy . "
good yearFor an importer like Rosalink who works with a ' in high spirits book , low margin ' rule , a small dislocation such as higher transport price has major moment . " The scarceness in output and relatively high demand , probably due to the corona crisis - people at home potentially buy more flowers than people on holiday - resulted in high Mary Leontyne Price per stem turn which in turning compensated a bite for the extra freight costs . And looking at the past few year , 2020 is already one of the better years for Rosalink . " 2018 and 2019 were challenging years for the rosaceous sector , characterized by overrun resulting in low prices on the marketplace . Fortunately this year , despite the scarcity , we have been able to fully suffer our edict and prices were much higher than normal . All in all , we were able-bodied to benefit from market developing this class . "
Early orders - avoiding uncertaintyProspects for next year are also positive . Orders for yr - round legal transfer that ordinarily amount in during November and December already came in August and September , says Bruine de Bruin . But what is the reason for this ? " This is all about void uncertainty , our customers need certainty for a reasonable price . Because of the uttermost prices that we have seen this twelvemonth , the retail suppliers require fixed prices and quantity for next yr . For us and our growers , this is positive . "
Lockdown FranceDespite the good year so far , Bruine de Bruin is n’t getting too activated yet . " unluckily , the flower industriousness is now again facing market incertitude due to restrictive measures in several European nation . At the moment , it is clear that flower sale in France are suffering from the new lockdown and we are already face cancellation . Developments in other countries are also still incertain . This problem is anticipate to keep for some time to come in , but also this is unsettled . "
24/7 operationalRosalink is useable 24 hour a sidereal day , 7 daytime a hebdomad . Every day , 15 people work hard to sort and process the prime that are being sent immediately to Rosalink from different parts of Africa , from a aggregate of more than 50 agriculturalist , as quickly as possible . " After all , we work on with a tonic intersection where ledge life is of outstanding importance . Speed is therefore essential . "
Online nosegay sales boomingBruine de Bruin not only owns Rosalink , but also Jopex , a bouquet yield / flower processing company . Jopex is also located at Rosalink ’s premisses in Aalsmeer and is partly fed by the oeuvre of Rosalink and partly for third customers . decent to mention is that this company has had a good yr so far , and this is chiefly due to the boost in online gross revenue . " Because the online bouquet sale have earn momentum this also ensue in extra orders for Jopex . "
For more information : RosalinkErik Bruine de BruinM : +31 6 - 51 56 32 09E:[email protected]www.rosalink.nl
