FloraHolland celebrate centenary
FloraHolland marked its centenary in Royal style!
FloraHolland marked its hundredth anniversary with hundreds
of invited business relations from within the cooperative itself and from the
floriculture industry, government and politics. The guest of honour at the ‘FloraHolland 100
Years’ Colour’ event was Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands,
who had earlier awarded the Royal designation to the flower auction (which has
marketplaces in Aalsmeer, Bleiswijk, Eelde, Naaldwijk and Rijnsburg).
The auction’s guests were treated to a sparkling programme,
introduced by the renowned Dutch presenter Karin Bloemen, in which the past,
but above all the present and future of this auction cooperative were
considered in revue style.
Following the official part of the proceedings, Her Majesty
was introduced to a number of the marketplace's ‘trailblazers’ –growers,
traders/exporters and staff elected by the sector itself to be honoured for the
special contributions.
The FloraHolland auction cooperative, which employs over
4,000 staff, has a turnover of 4.1 billion euros and sells more than 12 billion
flowers and plants a year, making it a significant contributor to the Dutch
economy.
A century ago, growers agreed on the organisation of the first local-scale flower auction, over a game of billiards in a pub. A hundred years on, FloraHolland is a still-growing, internationally-active auction company. 8,000 growers from the Netherlands and abroad deliver their flowers and plants to the cooperative every day, while around 2,500 professional customers (including numerous exporters and wholesalers) do their purchasing on a daily basis here. About 85% of that trade is destined for export.
Photo caption: Her Majesty was presented with a little bouquet by the Chairman of the Board, Bernard Oosterom, and the General Manager, Timo Huges. This bouquet symbolises the ‘pendulum of happy moments’. Bouquets of flowers were taken away by guests at the FloraHolland open days to be shared with people across the country who could well use a ‘moment of happiness’.
