90L roses flown from B’luru airport for V-Day

Bengaluru, Feb 14 : A whopping 90 lakh roses weighing 2.73 lakh kg were flown from Bengaluru to 41 overseas and domestic destinations by air to celebrate the Valentine’s Day, said the airport operator on Sunday.
“Around 6.4 million (64 lakh) rose stems weighing 1.7 lakh kg were exported to dozen overseas destinations, including Auckland, Beirut, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Manila and Singapore during the Valentine season from the Kempegowda international airport,” said Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) in a statement here.
Similarly, 2.6 million (26 lakh) rose stems weighing 1.03 lakh kg were flown by domestic airlines to dozen cities across the country, including Ahmedabad, Bagdogra in West Bengal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Covid pandemic, however, impacted domestic sales and export of roses in different colours as the virus induced restrictions affected its demand this year.
“As people the world over reel under the pandemic, the sentiment to celebrate events like the Valentine’s Day has been subdued this year. Demand for roses, especially Dutch variety has been less than 50 per cent of last year,” said a floriculture dealer said on the occasion.
Lakhs of roses are grown in Karnataka’s southern region, including Bengaluru, Chikkaballapur, Doddaballapur, Kolar, Mandya and Ramanagara for domestic and export markets under salubrious climate for the season.