VWS News update
May | 2020
We hereby present you our latest newsletter!
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Since the weekend of March 14 + 15 there is an ‘intelligent lockdown’ in the Netherlands. This means that schools, sports clubs, bars, restaurants, barbershops, touristic places are closed; events are canceled and elderly houses cannot welcome any visitors. The government asked to work from home as much as possible. For a few weeks it was unsure, if the hospitals had enough capacity on their intensive care. At this moment it seems that the hospitals have enough intensive care places. The number of new cases and the number of deaths per day is slowly going down the last days. This week the government announced that children day care centers and primary schools can re-open by the 11th of May. Some of the restrictions for sports clubs will also be reduced.
In some other European countries the number of restrictions is also reducing. In Germany the flower shops and garden centers are re-opened. This is good for the flower sales in the Netherlands. We also see a lot of creative flower farmers who are finding new ways to sell their flowers. A few organized a drive thru for consumers to get their flowers. Others farmers gave flowers to hospital employees as a charity donation. And some farmers set up an online flower shop, and send the flowers directly to the consumers’ houses now. Despite these actions we know it is a tough time for most of the companies.
We are happy to inform you that all of our staff is healthy. In the past weeks we had different working schedules, compared to what we normally have. Employees have tried to work from home as much as possible. Everyone needs to take distance from each other, and we have a strict hygiene protocol. The coming weeks we hope to get back to our normal working schedule.
Events like the Tulip Trade Event, Dutch Lily Days and the FlowerTrials have all been canceled. Also our sales representatives cannot travel to visit our customers around the world. However, we try to keep everyone informed as much as possible.
Most tulip fields are fully in bloom at this moment. So if you would like to get more information about that, please do not hesitate to contact us. We also have many trials of lilies in our testing greenhouse. These tests are starting to bloom at the end of May/early June. Please contact us if you would like to schedule a video call to get a tour through our greenhouse.
We are still shipping lily bulbs around the world. For a few clients business is going well, because there is an import stop for flowers. Some of our clients keep on planting, because they want to have flowers for after the lockdown. Others are planting smaller volume of bulbs.
At the beginning of 2020 we started to build a new office in our warehouse, where the drivers can report, who come to unload the bulbs. In this new office our people will handle the administration of all incoming goods. Thanks to the large windows that allow to let in the light from outside, this office is very suitable for stage research of bulbs as well.
The 2-year part of the French crop 2020 was already planted, however not all 1-year batches of the French crop 2020 were planted due to quality problems. The growers in France have also planted less or have even completely stopped cultivating, so in its entirety there is certainly less production in France. The % shrinkage in France is not fully visible yet.
The growers are still planting. The information that we receive from growers in general is that there will definitely be a decrease in acreage. Next to that they also mention that there will be a decrease in the number of varieties. What this shrinkage will eventually become and whether this shrinkage will be in line with the market cannot be said/forecasted at the moment. Nor can we determine what exactly will be needed for crop 2020 because there are still too many uncertainties worldwide.
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Please feel free to let us know how the situation is for you and your company. Specially in these difficult times it is good to keep in touch. We believe this crisis will make us stronger together!
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VWS Export Import of Flowerbulbs BV
Westelijke Randweg 3
1721 CH Broek op Langedijk - THE NETHERLANDS
Tel.: +31 (0) 226 331050
Sales Mobile: +31 (0) 62295 0995
E-mail: sales@vws-flowerbulbs.nl
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