Flowers are by far the most popular Fairtrade product group in K-food stores. The Pirkka Fairtrade rose in particular is a regular customer favourite - in 2021, K-food stores sold more than 2 million Fairtrade rose bouquets.
Warm colours shine in autumn roses
The colours of the roses are chosen according to the customer’s preferences to match the season. Orange and yellow roses are the favourites in autumn, while many red and white flowers are sold at Christmas.
Choosing a variety is a precise job
When choosing a rose variety, attention is paid not only to its suitability for the farming conditions, but also to the length of the stem, rosebud opening pace and durability in a vase, for example.
Flower buckets get a new life as plastic products
The flowers are delivered to the stores in black plastic buckets – nearly 400,000 buckets are collected in K-stores each year. From 2019, the buckets have been recycled into new plastic products instead of being incinerated. Almost 140,000 kg of flower buckets have already been recycled in the recycling model.
A total of 60% of the respondents to the survey* conducted for K-group’s customers in August replied that they were concerned about the origin of the products and the transparency of the production chain. Of the respondents, 64% said that they were concerned about the well-being and livelihood of the workers in the producer country.
By buying Fairtrade products, one knows that the well-being of both people and the environment has been contributed to in the producer countries. “We are proud of our long partnership with Fairtrade. Finland’s first Fairtrade product was Pirkka Fairtrade coffee in 1999. Nowadays, in addition to coffee, Fairtrade flowers and organic bananas are especially popular with customers. For the Fairtrade products sold in K-food stores, Fairtrade producers have already been paid more than EUR 7 million of Fairtrade Premium,” says Timo Jäske, Vice President of Sustainability for K Group’s grocery trade division.
The responsibility of the supply chain is one of the priorities of the K-Group’s sustainability strategy. The K-Group has revealed the origin and route of the Pirkka Fairtrade roses and the Pirkka Luomu Fairtrade bananas to the store shelf on the “Tracing our products” site.
A Fairtrade Premium is paid to the producers of Fairtrade flowers. Janne Sivonen, Executive Director of Fairtrade Finland, who visited the Fairtrade flower farms in Kenya in September, knows how important it is to support local communities. “Fairtrade is especially important for flower farms nowadays. The rise in inflation and cost of living also affects flower farm workers and their families in Kenya. With Fairtrade Premiums, communities can support, for example, children’s school attendance, health services and increasing the efficiency of production,” says Sivonen.
*An omnibus survey conducted at the K-Group’s customer community K-Kylä in August 2022, n=1054.
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