Floral markets reopen for electronic auctions

Two major floral trading markets in Southwest China's Yunnan province resumed electronic auctions on Monday, after days of being shut down due to the novel coronavirus.

According to the epidemic leadership and command department in Chenggong district of Kunming in Yunnan province, starting Feb 10, Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center and the phase-one industrial park of Kunming Dounan Flower Industrial Park Development Co Ltd will resume electronic auctions.

The leadership and command department instructed both trading markets to strictly implement epidemic prevention and control measures, improve enterprise work systems during the special period, keep an eye on the physical condition of returned staff, guarantee material supply and disinfection and make production arrangements scientifically.

Kunming Vice-Mayor Wang Bing said: "Kunming is strictly implementing epidemic prevention and control measures while organizing the reopening of qualified enterprises in an orderly manner. We are opening the regional market step by step. Kunming is striving to lower the influence of the virus outbreak on economic development, and to guarantee the healthy and stable economic development."

Official data showed currently, fresh cut flowers from Yunnan takes up 70 percent of market share in major cities in China, and is also exported to 46 countries and regions worldwide. Dounan Flower Market, under Kunming Dounan Flower Industrial Park Development Co Ltd, is the largest fresh cut flower market in Asia. It has ranked top in China for more than 10 consecutive years in terms of trade volume, traffic and export volume.

Wang noted Dounan Flower Market has only resumed electronic auctions, which, according to the assessment of Kunming Municipal Government, is controllable in terms of epidemic control.

Dai Tangtao, a flower merchant that attended the electronic flora auction trading in Dounan Flower Market on Monday, said: "due to the virus outbreak, our business is not as good as that of last year. As people are all staying at home, there will be fewer consumers."

He planned to purchase over 20,000 fresh cut flowers that day. Were it not for the epidemic, he would be purchasing more than 50,000.

Jiang Xiaofei, a fresh cut flower purchaser in Yunnan, also said his flower business was affected during the period. However, he noted the reopening of electronic flora auctions is good news for him.

"The security check is very strict, which I think is necessary, because strict control measures benefit all people," Jiang said.

On Jan 26, to lower infection potential caused by people gathering, Dounan Flower Market shut down flora trading related to residents and tourists, only keeping up the floral wholesale business. Starting Feb 6, all stores were closed.