Florists hit badly by flower shortages

Compiled by SIM LEOI LEOI, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN

INDIAN flower wholesalers and retailers in Perak are facing an unprecedented shortage of supply and drop in income, reported Makkal Osai.

Shopowners said the shortage coupled with the increased costs and high prices caused their income to drop by 50%.

K. Thasarathan who runs a flower shop in Ipoh’s Little India said compared to last year, many were only able to get up to 30% of their usual flower supply for the recent Vinayagar Chathurthi festival.

Shopowner C. Mahadevan said many of the flowers had to be imported from neighbouring countries and India when they could be obtained locally in previous years.

Even flowers which could be sourced from Cameron Highlands had to be transported by the traders themselves which ended up costing them more.

A Cameron Highlands-based operator identified as Rengasamy said many flower growers in the area were affected by the movement control order.

He said they were unable to sell the flowers and had to dispose them and because of this, they switched to planting vegetable crops temporarily.

However, with demand for the flowers returning, he said the situation was expected to return to normal by Deepavali.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.