Dynamics of Production and Trade of Flower Bulbs in the Netherlands, China and Japan

In Japan, the flower industry has stagnated since the late 1990s. The production of tulip bulb, especially, has greatly decreased in Toyama, the largest growing area in Japan. The peak of production was 1993, when the volume was 61 million bulbs. By 2015, volume was 17 million bulbs (28% of 1993’s volume). One of the reasons for the reduction is the competition from cheaper Dutch bulbs. Tulip imports from the Netherlands, however, have decreased too. This paper aims to investigate the situation of the world bulb market and the true reason for the decline in the industry as seen in Japan. In this paper we discuss features of production and trade in the Netherlands, China, and Japan from 2000 to 2015. The Netherlands is a dominant country in the global flower industry. It has the largest production and trade of flower bulbs. China is a growing economy and the bulb industry there is growing and young; it is increasing its production and imports. Japan is also both a consumer and producer of bulbs; however, Japanese production and imports are decreasing. In this study, we compare the details of production and trade of the three countries and explore some economic factors of changes. We use an elementary economics model of demand and supply, analyse the dynamics of price and quantity on production, export, import and consumption of tulip bulbs and show some implications for Japan

Tulip Bulb Industry in Japan since 1988

The plant quarantine measures for tulip and lily bulbs were abolished in 1988. A removal of the quarantine made Japanese bulb growers face international competition in the markets. Since then the imports of bulbs, mainly from Holland, increased rapidly and bulb prices tended to decline gradually, while the Japanese production of bulbs did not decrease. The imports also introduced new varieties of bulbs to Japan. The demand for tulip bulbs increased greatly until the late 1990s, but in the 2000s the Japanese bulb markets stagnated. Bulb prices decreased, and the domestic production of bulbs decreased sharply, which caused a great reduction in the number of bulb farmers. Consequently, the rate of self-sufficiency for producing tulip bulbs in Japan decreased from 80% in 1988 to 20 % in 2006, even though the volume of imported bulbs decreased in the 2000s. This paper analyzes the demand and supply conditions of tulip bulbs, and reports estimates of the Japanese demand and supply functions of tulip bulbs by regression analysis. Demand depends upon the real price (in terms of consumption goods) of tulip bulbs negatively and the real national income positively, and shows that the demand curve shifted forward until 2001, and then shifted backwards. Domestic supply depends upon the prices of tulip bulbs and the rice prices positively

Flower Bulb Industry in Japan and Holland: Trade and Production

In this paper I shall discuss the flower bulb industry in Japan and Holland since 1970s. Section 2 demonstrates the comparisons of the international trade and production of the flower bulb sector as well as the entire floriculture between the countries, and production structures of the flower bulb industry in both countries are shown in section 3. In section 4, I shall consider a role of the flower bulb industry in terms of national economy. Overall discussion of dynamics and changes of the Japanese bulb market in the 80s and 90s follows in section 5

Harrodian Dynamics and the Hoover Curve: Japanese Case

Hoover (2008) developed an empirical test with respect to an implication from Harrod (1939)’s dynamic theory. More specifically, the gross domestic product (GDP) gap should be inversely related to the difference between the natural and proper warranted rate of growth. I call this hypothesis the Hoover curve. Hoover derived a downward-sloping regression line of the U.S. economy during the period 1930-2005. In this paper I discuss the Harrodian dynamics of economic growth and show a Hoover curve with a structural change in the Japanese economy during the period 1957-2009

Production Cost of Tulip Bulbs in Japan and the Netherlands, Poster

28th International Horticultural Congress, Lisbon, 22-27 August 2010　の発表ポスタ

Production Costs of Tulip Bulbs in Japan and the Netherlands

Recently, tulip bulb production has greatly decreased in Japan because of massive imports of cheap bulbs from the Netherlands. The production volume of Japanese tulip bulbs is one-third of that in the last peak, 1993, and the market share of Dutch bulbs in Japan has reached 80%.The aim of this paper is to compare farm management conditions in Japan and the Netherlands to find some comparative features of production costs of tulip bulbs. In November 2009, I conducted interviews with Japanese and Dutch bulb farmers and surveyed production costs.The main results are as follows: (1) the average price of tulip bulbs produced in the Netherlands is less than half of those produced in Japan. (2) The production per hectare (ha) in the Netherlands is more than twice of that of Japan. (3) The scale of farms in the Netherlands is more than four times that of Japan. (4) The production system of the Netherlands is more mechanized with bigger tractors and machinery. As a result, for example, Dutch farmers plant by 3 ha per day, whereas Japanese farmers plant only 0.3 or 0.4 ha per day. (5) The wage share in production costs of the Netherlands is less than that of Japan. (6) The capital depreciation share in production cost of the Netherlands is more than that of Japan. (7) The farm income share in terms of the production price in the Netherlands is less than that of Japan

Flower Bulb Industry in England

In this paper we survey the flower bulb production area in the Netherland, England and Japan. And we discuss the production and trade of England during the 1990\u27s and the 2000\u27s. We show some features of narcissus production in England and mention some activities in the bulb production place. We conclude that narcissus sector has a strong position and exportable power in the flower bulb industry in England. One of the advantages is quality of narcissi, e.g. relatively large and strong flowers. And another point is a fact that narcissus is a source of stable income for farmers who have vegetables as changeable income

Kaiba shinkei saibo no jujyo tokki hattatsu ni okeru CRMP no kino kaiseki

制度:新 ; 報告番号:甲3578号 ; 学位の種類:博士(理学) ; 授与年月日:2012/3/15 ; 早大学位記番号:新591

Time Budget of Tulip Bulb Farmers in Japan and Holland ： In Busy Season

In 1999 we compared time budget structures of tulip bulb farmers in the harvest and post-harvest season in Japan and the Netherlands, by interview and questionnaire survey. Our results are as follows: 1) In Japan there are two peaks in monthly allocation of yearly labour input, June - July (harvest and post-harvest) and October (planting). In contrast, there is one peak in the Netherlands, June - July (harvest and post-harvest). In Japan labour time fluctuates month by month, while in the Netherlands it does not. 2) During the harvest and post-harvest season (9 days), Japanese farmers work for twelve to thirteen hours and sleep for less seven hours, while Dutch farmers works at most for ten and half hours and sleep for eight hours. 3) One of the reasons for the above fact is that Japanese farmers work even on Saturday and Sunday but Dutch ones do not so

Ornamental Bedding Plants Industry in Japan: Changes in Production, Distribution and Consumption after the Gardening Boom of 1990\u27s

The ornamental bedding plants in Japan experienced a gardening boom that peaked in 1999.The gardening boom of 1990’s had a profound effect in the bedding plants market in Japan, which historically had tended to increase gradually, increased dramatically both in quantity and quality.However, supply and demand shifted to the saturated condition after the gardening boom. Established diversity and the variation were demanded at the boom. The accumulation and use of joint ownership type information concerning new items became important as correspondence of the grower. We clarified that it was important that the production management have the network structure with the flexibility for the accumulation and use of joint ownership type information concerning new items and varieties