Orchid business flourishes as security improves

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Orchid growers should reap the benefits of increasing demand, especially from the export market, if the country's security situation continues to improve, the chairman of the Indonesian Orchid Garden Cooperation (KOTAIP) said.

KOTAIP chairman Suharto said exports would increase by about 20 percent this year if (foreign) buyers felt it was safe to come to the country.

"Orchid importers always make deals on the spot. They do not want to place their orders by phone or fax," Suharto said in an interview with The Jakarta Post last week.

Orchid exports dropped 50 percent last year from the previous year, largely because buyers were frightened by the country's political situation and canceled visits to Indonesia.

Orchids are grown as botanical species or hybrids in Jakarta, East and Central Java, several cities in West Java, Papua and Sumatra.

The largest export markets for Indonesian orchids include Japan, Germany, the U.S. and Taiwan.

Suharto said Indonesia's most sought-after orchid species included Bulbophyllum, Dendrobium and Phalaenopsis.

"Most buyers from Japan prefer orchid species that have small flowers, like the Dendrobium spectriosum," he said.

Indonesia has more than 100 orchid species. Buyers usually select orchid species based on their rarity, the size of their flowers, their color, whether they have showy or small leaves, perfumed or unscented flowers, and long-lasting or short-lived flowers.

The quality of an orchid will determine its price, and sometimes these prices can be quite impressive. For example, the popular Phalaenopsis gigantea sells for up to Rp 2.5 million (US$250) and the Grammatophyllum speciosum can fetch up to Rp 3 million.

Grammatophyllum speciosum is generally considered to be the giant of the orchid world, since its pseudobulbs may grow to as much as five meters in diameter and produce 29 flowers. The Phalaenopsis gigantea, with its large leaves, can produce 95 brownish-splashed flowers that last up to one month.

With increasing demand, exporters here face significant obstacles to supplying overseas markets. Unlike their competitors in Thailand, Indonesian orchid farmers continue to have serious problems and difficulties in orchid hybridization and multiplication because they cannot produce qualified seeds.

"We have to import the seeds from Thailand, which I believe will not sell its best seeds to us," Suharto said.

Orchid farmers also face bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining an export license from the Ministry of Forestry, which costs between Rp 1 million and Rp 2 million and requires the farmers cut through a great deal of red-tape.

The majority of flowering orchid plants on the Indonesian market today are hybrids of the Cattleya, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Vanda, which are on the inexpensive end of the orchid family.

A young Dendrobium sells for between Rp 7,500 and Rp 12,500, while the Phalaenopsis and Cattleya can fetch Rp 15,000.