Inner market for the products of the Brazilian floriculture: characteristics, trends and recent socialeconomic importance


Professional Brazilian floriculture is acquiring notable development in recent years and can be already characterized as one of the most promising segments of intensive horticulture in national agribusiness. It is observed, throughout the country, a movement marked with strong growth of its productive base indexes and the inclusion of new regions of flowers and ornamental plants production. According to estimates, in recent years, there are 5,152 producers, which cultivate an area of 8,423 hectares. The economic sustentation of this activity is guaranteed by the vigor of the domestic market reached in 2007 with the annual movement of US$ 1.3 billion. The exports, despite achieving successive records observed throughout the present decade, still remain about U$ 35 million in annual sales, or the equivalent 2.7 % of the total value of the production. The main destinations are: Holland, U.S.A., Japan, Spain, France and other 30 different countries around the world. Despite that, the market of flowers and ornamental plants in Brazil must be understood in light of developing countries consumption patterns, in which predominates: low per capita consumption indexes; market with small relative number of frequent buyers; purchases centered in traditional products, and demand density is strongly seasonal and tied to special and commemorative dates, such as: as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, All Souls’ Day, among others.