Nursery stock exports ‘can double’

NURSERY stock growers have the potential to double exports in the next four years, Bord Glas predicted at the International Garden and Leisure Exhibition (GLEE), which concluded at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham yesterday.

Current exports of 5.4 million are forecast to rise to 10.2 million in 2006.

Bord Glas said significant export opportunities for nursery stock growers are evidenced by the fact that Britain’s horticultural imports continued to rise by £64 million to £594 million in 2001.

Chief executive Michael Maloney said that as part of the board’s export initiative for the Irish plant and flower industry, 15 growers including SAP, Fitzgerald’s and Costin’s Nurseries are displaying products at the board’s stand at GLEE, covering hardy nursery stock, cut foliage and bulbs.