Experts: Price of trees on the rise
Christmas staple in short supply; expect to pay 10% to 30% more
Add Christmas trees to the list of items facing shortages and higher prices this year.
Several factors are driving the trend, Newsday reported, including over-the-top sales last year during the first Christmas during the COVID -19 pandemic and supply chain issues this year.
Experts said tree buyers should expect to pay between 10 percent and 30 percent more for both live trees and artificial trees this year and also have a smaller selection to choose from.
“Prices have gone up significantly,“John Mohlenhoff, secretary of the hook and ladder company for the Huntington fire department, said. “We’ve had to compromise on what types of trees we’re getting, sizes, everything.”
The Huntington fire department sold out its trees in 48 hours last year in what is normally a weeklong fundraising sale, Mohlenhoff said. This year, prices have been raised about $5, the first time that’s been done in a decade. The department has had to pay higher prices to the farm in Pennsylvania that supplies the trees.
Several factors are at work. Farmers struggling after the economic recession in 2009 planted fewer trees for several years, and demand has been rising in the past several years, experts told Newsday. It takes eight to 10 years for a tree to reach maturity.
Shipments of artificial trees have been delayed this year due to supply chain issues including a shortage of truck drivers to make deliveries.
“Some of the major retailers say they have about 43 percent of their inventory right now when it should be closer to 70 percent at this time of the year,” said Jami Warner, executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, which represents Christmas tree retailers.