The coalition of industry associations that has been
working for over a year to find a way to fund floral marketing received
a request from the importer community to wait until some very impactful
issues that they are facing are resolved.
John Amaya, president of Dole Fresh Flowers and chairman of the Association of Floral Importers of Florida, suggested that it would be wise to suspend the activities of the initiative until after next Valentine’s Day. He said, “The uncertainty of the Free Trade Agreement, ATPADEA [Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act], instability of oil prices, and the devaluation of the dollar against the peso are consuming all the attention of the importers.” It is clear that until a better understanding is reached as to how these issues will affect those businesses strong support cannot be achieved.
Red Kennicott, coalition chairman, said, “Although I am very disappointed that we cannot continue at this time, it is important to be sensitive to the issues facing the importers and wait until the environment is more conducive to having a positive vote.” Charles Kremp, who as president has been the front person for the effort, said, “The goal of the initiative was to find a way. That has been accomplished. The next step is to gain industry acceptance. We have seen significant support grow on the domestic producer side and now need to wait for the importer position to improve so they too will embrace what is being proposed. The groundwork is finished. Once the industry says go, the next steps are all laid out and an order could be implemented in approximately one year.”
For more information, please contact: Charles Kremp at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call 215-285-8080.
|
