Dutch exporters were among those who got burnt by the hot summer of 2018, says a survey conducted by the organisers of the IPM Essen trade show (22-25 January 2019)

Cut flower exports were the worst hit, but sales of house and plants held up to compensate, although not to Great Britain. Sales to GB and five other countries have fallen this year.

The decline in sales to three of the five most important export countries (Germany, Great Britain and Italy) is “unaccustomed and alarming”, the report says, with Brexit uncertainties and the low Sterling exchange rate implicated.

IPM Essen 2019 will feature a Discovery Centre in Hall 8a. Focusing on sales concepts for garden centres, it will be staged under the creative direction of stylist Romeo Summers, who wowed audiences at Glee with his Retail Lab presentation in September.