Flowers (Ornamentals) are a commodity which are bought and sold (traded) on the open market. As such, they are governed by the rules and regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture. The prices reported on their website are the terminal prices. These prices are the reported as highs and lows. Commodities are traded on a daily basis.

Floral wholesale houses usually do their buying on Wednesday or Thursday. The flowers are flown in early Monday morning. The buyers in the wholesale house have direct link to certain large growers world wide. They're usually given a heads up regarding flowers that may be in a surplus. What this means is the wholesale florist may be able to buy Sweetheart roses less say as an example: 43 cents, and sell them for 65 cents. The local florist recognizes these prices as "specials" to which they have been made aware the previous week. This special price is locked in on orders prebooked. So, if you were to look at the terminal prices reported on the USDA website, the prices might be reported as such: Low .65, High .95. Somehow in the rules and regulations, I think these wholesale florists may be considered terminals.

Because they are a commodity, the prices of flowers fluctuate daily. The floral wholesale pricing changes daily--just like at the gas pump. If you are using the USDA prices, they should only be used as a guideline. If you are selling to florists, the best thing to do is develop good repoire with them. If you are a grower of specialty cutflowers, it is a very good thing to develop a good repoire with the wholesale florist.

Trish

Okay, so I would use the USDA prices as a guideline when/if I sell to a florist? Thanks for all the info!