Competitiveness of Ecuador’s Flower Industry in the Global Market in the Period 2016–2020

Abstract

More intense floriculture activity in Ecuador could mean huge improvements for the country’s economic growth, while at the same time would be a sustainable exploitation of its natural resources. This study aims to help floriculture entrepreneurs in Ecuador with production planning, investment, and marketing strategies. With this in mind, two main objectives are addressed in the paper. The first one is to obtain an analytical overview of the world’s flower industry and the chief exporting and importing countries, as well as of the types of flowers that are offered and demanded. The second is to determine the competitive position of Ecuador’s flower industry and that of its direct competitors in the global cut flower marketplace. To accomplish the latter, we used Balassa’s and Hinloopen and Van Marrewijk’s measures and carried out statistical tests to validate the results. These indicated that both Ecuador and Colombia enjoy a strong comparative advantage among their direct competitors: the Netherlands, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Although the 2018 Logistics Performance Index and the 2017–2018 Global Competitiveness Index rankings put Ecuador in the 70th and 97th position worldwide, respectively, our findings show that Ecuador has the potential to achieve higher market shares in the flower trade globally. Consequently, strategic production policies should be implemented for Ecuadorian flower companies to adapt to the international flower trade requirements and for improving the production and supply chain technologies so that Ecuador can reach other foreign markets.