U.S. ambassador Hartog Levin surveys flower auction

Honours Naaldwijk with her visit

NAALDWIJK - The Naaldwijk flower auction, part of the huge FloraHolland sales and distribution system, the largest of its kind in the world, was picked by U.S. Ambassador Fay Hartog Levin as her acquaintance visit to the province of South Holland.

The ambassador and her husband Daniel Levin expressed a keen interest in the auction system with its simultaneous clock sessions, the distribution process and its logistics, and the importance of the ornamental plant culture for the Dutch economy.

Born of Dutch American immigrant parents, Hartog Levin has made it a point to plan a visit to each province in the Netherlands as part of her schedule. Before arriving in The Hague, she lived in Illinois.

Naaldwijk's is part of FloraHolland which includes most flower and ornamental plant auctions in the Netherlands. The other export oriented auctions are located in Aalsmeer and Rijnsburg. Bleiswijk, Eelde and Venlo serve regional Dutch markets. Between them they distribute 90 percent of the crops grown in the Netherlands and also take in products from members in other countries.

In addition to the 39 auction clocks at the six locations, FloraHolland also oprerates an e-Trade service bureau for the wider industry (day and future trades) that includes Boskoop's silviculture.

The ambassador was also told that FloraHolland employs a staff of 4700 and had posted sales of 3.8 billion euros last year.