Flower prices rise rapidly in Yunnan ahead of Chinese Valentine's Day

In the city of Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province, prices for freshly cut flowers have skyrocketed as the Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, approaches.

The Qixi Festival, which has its origins in a 2,000-year-old legend of two lovers, takes place on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the Chinese calendar. This year the festival falls on August 10th.

The Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center experienced its peak Qixi Festival flower sales between August 2 and 9. The highest daily offer reached 9.8 million flower stems and the average daily transaction volume was around 8 million.

“Roses with large heads, thick petals and cup-shaped flowers are in high demand, as are small, fresh and natural-looking flowers. Among the best-selling flowers this year, white varieties have achieved particularly high prices,” said Li Zhijun, auctioneer at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center.

Due to the decline in flower supply this year, market prices have increased by 40 percent compared to last year, and as the Qixi Festival approaches, prices of certain popular flower varieties continue to rise.

“The price [of the ‘pride rose’ variety] can reach 6.5 yuan (about $0.9) per stem, three times the normal price,” Li said.

A flower shop in the city was brightly lit at night and running at full speed via live stream as employees worked in a race against time to pack the flowers into boxes and reach customers across the country.

“We started taking stock between August 1 and 2, and the market rushed for flowers at that time. The flower market at this year's Qixi Festival was very lively,” said Zhang Yihao, head of the flower company.

At the city's Dounan Flower Market, Asia's largest market for the trade of cut flowers, customers also flock to buy flowers in the hope of creating a romantic atmosphere in their homes.

Flower prices rise rapidly in Yunnan ahead of Chinese Valentine's Day

China's service consumption recovered steadily in the first half of this year. According to the country's top economic planner, production of service robots, such as those for food delivery, education and medical robots, rose by 22.8 percent.

During this period, per capita consumer spending on services accounted for 45.6 percent of the population's total per capita spending, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

With the improvement of citizens' incomes and the expansion of the middle class, as well as the change in China's demographic structure and scientific and technological progress, the extent of service use is expected to continue to increase, the Commission said.

“In the future, we will promote the innovative integration of trade, transportation, culture, tourism, sports and other service business models, optimize the systems and mechanisms for the high-quality development of private enterprises, and create and refine brands in the process of innovative development to meet diversified consumption needs,” said Chang Tiewei, an official with the Income Distribution and Consumption Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Production of service robots increases by 22.8 percent in the first half of the year as consumer spending recovers