Live Christmas tree prices are expected to increase because of a nationwide shortage, “a cost that had already been trending up in recent years,” Doug Hundley of the National Christmas Tree Association recently told The Charlotte Observer.
A Christmas tree shortage is leading to higher prices in parts of the country and could affect some elements of the floral industry supply chain.
The current tree shortage is “a result of the recession that began nearly a decade ago, and it’s affecting tree farms nationwide,” according to The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, one of many publications and news outlets to cover Christmas tree supply issues in recent weeks. “When the economy folded in 2008, demand for real Christmas trees was low, so farmers didn’t plant as many.”
Christmas tree prices are expected to increase this year and in the future because of the shortage, “a cost that had already been trending up in recent years,” Doug Hundley of the National Christmas Tree Association told the Observer.
“Anytime you have a supply-demand balance that changes in favor of the demand, people can get more for them,” he added.
Bill LaFever, PFCI, president of the Bill Doran Company in Rockford, Illinois, said that he’s heard that supplies of certain Christmas greens (including evergreens and pine used for boughs and garland) are down by as much as 30 percent in some areas. A grower he works with out of Wisconsin reported receiving more than 70 voicemails in an eight-hour period from people — some of them not even regular customers — who were trying to track down more product.
Lenny Walker, regional manager with Kennicott Brothers Company in Chicago said the company is seeing “tight supplies on Midwest and Carolina product.”
“The Pacific Northwest seems like they are doing OK,” he added. “My opinion is everyone planned for a modest year. Labor is an issue: not enough workforce for cutting and manufacturing.”
Ben Powell, COO and CFO of Mayesh Wholesale Florist said the company’s cost increase this year on Christmas greens “has been modest, perhaps 2 percent.”
“There are some later shipments which are in part due to labor shortages,” he said. “That has caused some suppliers to get behind.”
Steve Cantado, purchasing manager of DV Flora in Sewell, New Jersey, said the only limited item his company sees in the Christmas greens category is boxwood — but that tight supply is related to plant disease issues that have been ongoing. He said he has heard of supply problems from other companies connected to late orders and unfavorable weather conditions in some areas.
“This probably affected the supply for some,” he said. “We already sold 10 percent more as of today than the same period last year, and it’s not even Dec. 1.”
A report from GWD Forestry predicts the tree shortage could last until 2025 and cites droughts and wildfires in major growing states as an additional factor. Other factors behind the increase in prices this year include the cost of freight.
