| |  | | Dried Cones
Answered by: Richard Alan Miller
Question from: Roberta
Posted on: December 20, 1999
I would like to know if you buy dried cones, flowers, and moss from individuals?
As a broker, I don’t purchase but rather solicit purchase orders for your inventories or work contracts. Then, sales are you sending your product to primary buyers, directly from your workplace or storage. To whom I solicit is dependent on how much (and quality) you have available. I take 10% of sales, after collections.
Cones are primarily for the pot-pourri and floral trade, a part of the market I used to be active. I don’t work anything fresh, so flowers would have be either dried or preserved. I have wanted to get back into the moss and lichen business, but have not had large enough production for my markets.
I need some further information before I can help you. For example, China and India now import specific cones to these markets. Their prices are impossible to compete, while quality is no problem. What cones to you have available to you, and in what quantities? This is also needed for dried/preserved flowers, and mosses and lichens.
Most of these crops are sold during the late summer and early fall, gearing up for the Christmas trade. No one will be purchasing cones again until March or April. Mosses, lichens and flowers are a different matter, as there are 8 major "floral" holidays. Lilies are especially popular in April (Smith River).
Get back to me with this information. I’ve thought about getting back into cones, but the markets are quite different than when I was a player (1985-1993). Depending on where you are located, these forms of crops can be quite lucrative, especially if you are also into light cottage industry developments (wreaths on the Internet).
| | |
|
