To recover pre-pandemic figures and exceed seven million roses sold. These are Mercabarna-flor's forecasts for the Sant Jordi festivity. They also estimate that 30% ---about 2.3 million--- of the total flowers to be sold during the day will come from the wholesale market.
The forecast is to surpass last year's sales when, despite 800,000 more roses being sold than in 2023 and 6.8 million flowers sold, the pre-pandemic figure of seven million was not reached. A figure that, however, they do trust to match and even exceed this year, also taking into account that Sant Jordi is celebrated on a weekday. The fact that this festivity does not coincide with a weekend means that residents do not leave, but remain in the city and, consequently, sales increase.
"It's no longer just the rose given to mothers, daughters or grandmothers, but if Sant Jordi falls during the week, flowers are also given in companies or in restaurants and this will help us to exceed the seven million barrier," said Miquel Batlle, president of the Mercabarna-flor Wholesalers' Guild.
Batlle has also argued that, increasingly, both tourists visiting the city during these dates and foreigners living in Catalonia "adopt" the tradition of giving books and roses to celebrate Sant Jordi. Mercabarna has even received orders from distant countries, such as Japan or Germany, from people who want to "embrace the tradition," as explained by the president of Mercabarna and Barcelona City Council's Economy Councilor, Jordi Valls.
However, despite being a Catalan tradition, the roses found on the streets on Sant Jordi's day will be almost entirely imported from other countries, as it is increasingly difficult to produce these flowers in Catalan territory due to climate change, because roses need cold and sun to grow. Thus, 69% of the roses will come from Colombia and 21% from Ecuador. Flowers imported from Holland, a traditional rose producer, will decrease and will only represent 10% of this year's sales.
As tradition dictates, 80% of the roses sold for Sant Jordi will be red, while the rest will be distributed among colors such as yellow, white, pink, or orange. Although up to 30 different varieties of red roses will be commercialized, the protagonist will once again be the Freedom variety, which comes from Ecuador and Colombia.
Mercabarna also estimates that prices will remain stable compared to previous years, and quality roses can be found from five euros, also depending on the ornamentation of the flower. In this sense, the trend of recent years to replace plastic for wrapping the flower with recyclable and biodegradable materials, such as paper, cardboard, or raffia, is maintained. Likewise, aromatic herbs such as eucalyptus will also be used, which not only add color but also scent to the flower arrangement.