"Italy's Romantic Splurge: A Whopping $80 Million Spent on Valentine's Day Flowers - Cia"

 Sales of flowers grown in Italy up 20% over 2023

By the end of Valentine's Day, Italians will have spent 80 million euros on flowers, or about 35 million, according to the floriculturalists of the Cia-Agricoltori Italiani farmers' union, who made the announcement on Wednesday.

    The numbers correspond to 2023 sales.

    Cia did note that the retail price of long stemmed roses, which are usually imported, has increased to 8–10 euros per stem this year, which is likely to result in a 20% increase in the sale of flowers cultivated in Italy.

    In contrast, a mixed arrangement of carnations, ranunculus, freesias, and anemones cultivated in Italy typically costs about 25 euros.

In contrast to countries in northern Europe, the Italian cut flower industry is intimately associated with the yearly celebrations of Women's Day (March 8), Mother's Day (May 1st Sunday), and Day of the Dead (November 2).

    When together, these events make for over half of all yearly sales.

    In a different statement, Coldiretti stated on Wednesday that the floriculture industry in Italy is valued at 3.1 billion euros and comprises approximately 17,000 businesses with 200,000 employees.

    It did, however, note that the industry is currently suffering from the climate crisis, growing production costs associated with energy prices, and unfair competition from overseas; in 2023, imports of flowers and plants were expected to reach about 900 million euros, a 33% increase over the previous year.

According to Coldiretti, these goods are frequently obtained by labor abuse, as is the case with flowers imported from Colombia and Kenya.