Valentine’s season: Bangalore airport records 325 tonnes of rose export

ET BUREAU/BENGALURU: The Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru has recorded impressive growth in cut roses in this year’s Valentine’s season.

About 325 tonnes of roses in the form of 5.2 Million stems were exported to 36 destinations in 25 countries across the globe between from Feb 1 to Feb 14, according to the Bangalore International Airport Limited, the airport operator.

This is in comparison to 293 tonnes in the form of 4.7 million rose stems that were exported in the same period, last year, 19 destinations in 15 countries.


The countries to which roses were exported include Malaysia, Kuwait, Singapore, Japan, USA, Lebanon, South Korea, Australia, UAE, UK, Qatar, Jordan, Denmark, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Oman, France, Indonesia, Belgium, Bahrain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Azerbaijan and Greece.

“This year, we have witnessed a huge jump in the number of destinations to which roses have been exported. The number of countries is also substantially higher. While this has much to do with the quality of roses grown in the region, we believe that the increase in destinations is also due to our consistent focus on efficient handling and our efforts towards establishing the BLR Airport as the singluar gateway for cargo traffic. We currently have seven dedicated freighter aircraft bays and facilities to handle a wide range of goods, including rose stems.” said Hari Marar, CEO at BIAL.

Malaysia, Kuwait and Singapore were among the top three countries to which roses were exported this year. While 52,459 kgs of roses were exported to Malaysia, Kuwait and Singapore accounted for 39,341 and 31,615 kgs respectively.