2006 Christmas Tree Crisis
A shortage of Christmas trees in Denmark, Europe's top exporter, twined with strong demand, threatens 10 to 15 percent jumps in fir prices across the continent, Danish producers say. ‘There are not enough Christmas trees to satisfy growing demand in Denmark and the rest of Europe, which explains the expected rise and comes on top of a similar rise last year,’ says the president of the Danish Christmas tree growers' association. Other major producers such as Germany, France and Austria have reported the same trend, which means we can expect to pay more for our trees this year.
The shortage has been caused by overproduction during the late 90s in Europe which led to economic losses, especially for Danish producers who until 2004 drastically reduced planting. Danish exports only became profitable again in 2005, which encouraged producers to increase planting. But it takes between seven and ten years for a tree to be ready for sale, so it is expected that prices will continue to rise for several years to come to maturity. Denmark produces between eight and nine million Christmas fir annually, ninety percent of which are exported within Europe, primarily to Germany, Britain, France and Austria.
Sales in 2005 stood at around 1.2 billion kroner (160 million euros), with exports accounting for 1.1 billion of this amount, showing how important the Christmas Tree market is to the Danish economy.
However there is hope on the horizon – the Christmas tree and tree light industry in China consists of more than 2,000 suppliers. China exported 1.8 billion euros worth of Christmas-related articles including trees, lights and ornaments in the 10 months to October 2005, which is an increase of about twelve percent from shipments in the corresponding period of the previous year and another twelve to twenty percent increase can be expected in 2007.
Plantation photograph by Orin, used under a creative commons attribution licence.
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