BARELY a week before Valentine’s Day, price of roses sold by vendors at Bacolod public plaza already increased by P10 per stem mainly due to higher cost from suppliers.
From only P25 per stem on regular days, roses were already sold at P35 per stem since Monday. The price is expected to even increase from P80 to P100 per stem from February 12 until February 14.
Flower vendor Marilou Calonia on Friday, February 9, said that from only P500 per bundle, the price of roses from their supplier in Dangwa, Manila is already P680 per bundle.
Each bundle consists of two dozens, Calonia said, adding that “to recover the capital, they have to increase the price by P10 per stem to generate at least P840 per bundle.”
During this special occasion, the price of roses, which is the most in demand flower, normally increases at least four times.
For roses set as bouquet, the current price is P700. It is higher by P300 than the last week’s price of P400 per bouquet.
Starting February 12, the price per bouquet of roses may surge up to P1,500, vendors said.
As of Friday, they said sales were not yet picking up. However, based on trends, influx of buyers is normally observed starting February 13.
Calonia said that despite the higher price of roses, they still experience shortage in supply due to brisk in sales.
“Like in the previous years, we are calculating the supply versus the demand,” she said, adding that “we will not source out supply volume bigger than the requirement to avoid losses.”