Pining for the real thing for the holidays
Tree industry has seen steady growth
Whether it’s cut down on a festive excursion to a Christmas tree farm, bought from a big box retailer, or hauled home from our local neighbourhood tree lot, Canadians love the real thing.
Growing, selling and buying fir, spruce and pine Christmas trees is a $77-million seasonal venture — with about half exported to the U.S. — that has been growing at a small but steady pace the past few years. Growers say the costs of supplies, labour and shipping have been going up about 10 per cent annually.
“This year in Ontario the cost of employment — the minimum wage — went up, and that is going to play into it,” said Shirley Brennan, executive director of both the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association and the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario.
“Each individual farm and grower sets their own prices. The bigger the farm, the more employees, hydro and other costs are involved, and that is reflected in their prices,” Brennan said.
However, Brennan added that at a meeting in September, growers from across Canada were positive about this season.
The cost to consumers buying a tree, nationally and provincially, has been going up about 20 per cent annually for about five years, with the average price of a tree being $55 to $60. A variety of fir trees, like Fraser and Balsam, are the most ex- pensive because they take longer to grow and fewer are grown than spruce and pine.
And the cost can vary depending on where you buy it — in a big city or a rural area.
Last year, retail business netted between $76 million and $77 million, with about $36 million worth of trees sold south of the border. Canadian Christmas tree sales are expected to increase by as much as 10 per cent this year.
“It is beneficial to have a real tree; not only is it good for the environment, but also for creating memories,” Brennan said. “People enjoy real trees, whether they grew up experiencing real Christmas trees when they were young, or if they are new Canadians who embrace the tradition and want their children to grow up enjoying it.”
She said several years ago, the Canadian market was flooded by a glut of cheaper trees imported for U.S. states, like North Carolina, but they haven’t been shipped north in recent years, and artificial trees are not as popular as they used to be.
According to Bloomberg, millennials opting for pines over plastic is going make it a green Christmas for U.S. tree growers as prices there have surged 17 per cent in the past two years, driven by younger consumers who are increasingly seeking locally grown, natural trees, ac- cording to a new report from the National Christmas Tree Association and Square Inc.
Demand for Christmas trees had previously waned as baby boomers sought artificial trees as their kids moved out of the house, according to the report. Average prices for the natural trees rose to $73 (U.S.) in 2017 from $64 in 2015, and costs are expected to hold steady in 2018, the report said.
“This is the first time in more than a decade that many local tree farmers are profitable,” Tim O’Connor, executive director of the National Christmas Tree Association, said in a statement.