The drop in Orchid prices is not all WM's doing, but is an example of what creative destruction actually delivers:
Orchids have become an affordable option for the holiday mantle, too, says Karen Houghton, a decorator and the owner of Karen Houghton Interiors in Nyack.File this under anecdotal evidence... along with this unofficial reprint of an Aug 4, 2004 New York Times article on the production of cheap Orchids, excerpted below:"Something I've noticed is that orchids are so reasonable today," she says. "They used to be $60 to $75, but now they're available at stores like Target, WalMart and Home Depot for $15 to $25."
Rising from what was once a muddy expanse of sugar cane fields here are huge greenhouses and the concrete shells of what will soon be a flower exposition hall, a genetic modification laboratory and more - the first steps in Taiwan's plan to dominate the world's $2 billion orchid industry.If the Taiwan effort is successful, orchids could lose their image as the high-priced but finicky princes of the floral world and become lesser nobility, almost as inexpensive as poinsettias. The favored flower for debutantes' corsages a generation ago, orchids are already starting to appear in rows of $15 potted specimens at mass merchandisers like Home Depot, and seem poised to become even cheaper.
With their mysteriously complex shapes and colors and their exotic and inaccessible homes in swamps and tropical forests, orchids were the darlings of wealthy collectors in Victorian days. They were hunted across the globe by adventurers who not infrequently gave their lives in pursuit of very rare varieties that even today can sometimes bring thousands of dollars.
Large commercial greenhouses have robbed orchids of some of their elite cachet since then. Now, if Taiwan is successful, there could be orchids for the masses. Seeking a cash crop to replace sugar, which is plagued by falling prices, Taiwan is hoping to double its orchid business, and the government plans to bring heavy public spending into the previously private world of growing orchids....
As in many industries, the spectacular economic expansion in China has cushioned orchid growers somewhat from rising competition. In January, Chinese buyers bought up practically every live red orchid in Asia and Europe for Chinese New Year, paying breathtaking prices of as much as $30 a plant at wholesale, said Andrew Easton, an executive at Kerry's Bromeliads in Homestead, Fla.
But the long-term trend in orchid prices is clearly downward, even as quality improves. Mr. Easton remembers paying $80 in 1958 for a small purple cattleya.
"Now,'' he said, "I can get an orchid as good as that one for $25.''
Posted by Kevin on December, 17 2004 at 10:46 AM
