Kunming Flower Market in Full Bloom

Yunnan Province and its capital city Kunming have a long history of flower culture. From beautiful flowery parks all over the city to flower cakes and tea, flowers are everywhere. With Camellias in January, cherry blossoms in March, lotus in June, chrysanthemums in September and plum blossoms at the end of the year thanks to the year-round spring-like climate, it is no wonder that Kunming has been nicknamed the Spring City. The central part of Yunnan Province actually has the perfect climate for growing flowers  low latitude, high altitude, plenty of sunshine and a large temperature difference between day and night. These conditions make it one of the most suitable areas for flower production in the world.

Yunnan started hosting flower exhibitions many decades ago, but the 1999 World Horticultural Exposition in Kunming pushed the city’s flower culture into the spotlight and unveiled it to the whole world. It is said that 30 years ago a 24-year-old villager in Dounan Village of Kunming City, on the east bank of Dianchi Lake, got an idea after a conversation with a friend on the price of gladiola flowers. Although his entire family used to grow vegetables, the villager decided to take a risk and save a part of his land to plant gladiola. Once the flowers bloomed, he took them to the market and sold out very quickly. That year, the family saw its annual income increase significantly, and he decided to dedicate his entire land to growing flowers. Soon, a rising number of villagers followed the same path, and this is how Dounan soon became the biggest fresh cut flower market in China and one of the largest in the world. The fresh cut flower market in Dounan expanded so fast that in 2012, the local government allocated a total investment of five billion yuan (around US$770 million) and a total area of 68 hectares to build a flower planting base. In 2015, the first phase was ready for business. Many villagers improved their business practices and work habits, which drastically increased their revenues. In 2017, the village reached a total income of 244 million yuan (US$34 million) and a per capita net income of 16,300 yuan (around US$2,516).

What makes the success of Dounan’s flower market is its comprehensive offer of services including electronic auctions and transactions. Kunming International Flower Auction and Trading Center (KIFA) covers an area of over nine hectares. It is entirely dedicated to the wholesales of fresh flowers. The center serves as a gateway and logistic hub between brokers and vendors from all over the country. Every day, two-thirds of the roughly 450 employees handle the preparation of 3 to 3.5 million stems of flowers for shipping by land or by air. In 2019, its total annual volume reached 1.5 billion stems of flowers. Meanwhile, KIFA’s impressive trading hall can accommodate up to 600 people. An advanced electronic bidding system was developed in-house and supported by the most recent technologies including 5G. This enables the nearly 3,000 on-site and remote traders all over China to simultaneously place bids. Auctions take place from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, all year long, with delivery starting at 8 p.m. There is a complete evaluation system that includes all aspects of flower quality such as variety, color, blossom stage and leaves. Every type and quality is given a specific code that will be used during the bidding process. Merchants first log in and then watch six auction clocks displayed on a giant screen and price indicators rotating counter-clockwise from high to low to conduct a reverse auction. Most buyers come every day, and experienced buyers can follow three clocks simultaneously. Each transaction can be finalized in less than four seconds. From tens of thousands of flowers at its start in 2001, KIFA’s daily trading volume now reaches an average of 3 to 3.5 million stems. The center already complies with international standards and aims at establishing extended flower trading rules to promote modernization, internationalization and standardization in the industry.

Dounan also accommodates a large flower market for the general public. It gathers over 600 florist shops selling all kinds of flowers including foreign species at very low prices in a colorful fairytale atmosphere with enchanting fragrances, and this market is now becoming a must-see destination for people visiting Kunming.

Although there are other regions in China growing flowers, nowadays seven out of 10 fresh cut flowers sold in the country come from Kunming. Some 1,600 varieties of fresh cut flowers grown by over 300,000 flower farmers in Kunming are exported daily to over 80 cities in China and 50 countries and regions in the world, with a total daily trading volume of 16.5 million stems of flowers worth almost 13 million yuan (around US$2 million) in 2018. With perfect weather and soil, planting flowers in Yunnan has become much more profitable than in any other Chinese province. This, coupled with the development policies put in place over the last decade, made Dounan the flagship of China’s flower industry, Asia’s largest flower market and the second-biggest flower market in the world after Holland. The value of production has also been ranked first in China 26 times in a row. Additionally, considering that China currently consumes fewer flowers per capita than other countries with similar income, the rapid development of the economy makes the local flower market even more promising than that of any other country.  

The author is a French expert working with China Pictorial.