Hundreds of tonnes of roses are brought to Europe for Valentine's Day business.

There was no shortage of roses on Valentine’s Day, the financial paper Kauppalehti reports.

“Sunday was Valentine’s Day. That is when you remember your friends and loved ones with small presents and flowers in particular. Ten MD-11 cargo planes were used to fly roses to Europe for Valentine’s Day from Africa and South America. Lufthansa Cargo, the world’s largest air freight company, has received 650 tonnes or about 23 million roses for delivery, which are brought to Europe from Kenya, Ecuador, Colombia and Ethiopia. The roses come via the Munich and Hamburg airports and are then distributed throughout Europe.

Most of the roses come from the Kenyan highlands from where they are brought on the same day to Nairobi, where the plane waits. The roses that are picked in the morning go by air freight to Europe on the same evening, and are sold at florists the next day.

The Perishable Center near Frankfurt Airport has been especially constructed for the roses. It is a large and unique rose warehouse.

A note to environmental groups: even though the roses have been brought in as air cargo to the European markets, the CO2 emissions from this are actually smaller than they would have been had the roses been grown in Europe.”

KAUPPALEHTI 14 February. VEIJO SAHILUOMA
Lehtikuva - Pekka Sakki