Flower traders face hectic days in rush to buy blooms

Geng Xinwei has only slept for three hours a day for the past 12 days.

The 24-year-old flower trader in Kunming, Yunnan province, has been busy with the Valentine's Day flower auction.

"Orders increase and flowers sell for prices that are five times higher than usual," he said, adding that most of the flowers he bought in the past two weeks were red roses.

Rising at 8 am, Geng goes to the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center to inspect the flowers he wants to buy.

At the center - Asia's second-largest flower auction center - hundreds of buyers are in fierce competition for flowers to sell on Sunday - Valentine's Day.

Four electronic displays are running simultaneously at the center, on which information about flowers, including their names, item number, ceiling price, quality and amount, is shown.

Buyers sit face to face in front of the four displays. Each has an e-auction keyboard and has to make a decision within five seconds.

The later you buy, the cheaper price you may get. In most cases, scores of buyers target the same item, but only the first to press the button is the winner.

Due to the booming demand for Valentine's Day, the auction, which is usually held once a day in the afternoon, is being staged twice daily at 10 am and 5 pm, with each session lasting two hours.

After buyers take the flowers they have purchased back to their stores, it usually takes three to four hours to pack and mail them.

About 4,200 level-B red roses (the second-highest level and the best seller) are sent each day from Geng's store to customers nationwide.

The wholesale price of 20 level-B red roses rises from 15 yuan ($2.27) to 50 yuan two weeks before Valentine's Day. Li Kun, a wholesaler at the auction center, said, "If the weather turns colder, the price can even hit about 100 yuan."

From last Sunday to Thursday, Li sold 16,800 level-B red roses every day. Most of his clients are from provinces outside of Yunnan.

Zhang Li, manager of the auction center, said, "Our sales volume outside Yunnan accounts for 80 percent of the province's total fresh flower trade. Overseas exports make up the other 15 percent, mainly to Japan, Australia, Thailand and Russia."

Contact the writers at yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn