The Analysis and Prospect of Development of Fresh Cut Flower Industry Based on the Patent Analysis

Fan SHUANG, Guoyang YAN

1. Development Research Institute of intellectual property, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China

2. Faculty of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangdong 510006, China

Fresh cut flowers or cut flowers are flowers or buds with stems and leaves that have been cut from the plant bearing it for decorative use.The cut flowers usually involve flowers, branches and leaves, and typical uses are flower basket, bouquet, vase display, and flower brooch, which are for decoration inside a house or building, as well as purifying the air. Besides, cut flowers can be made into medicines, food, cosmetic and spice,which becomes increasingly popular,with a promising future. The most common cut flowers include gladiolus,Chinese rose, rose, chrysanthemum,carnation, African daisy, anthurium,common callalily and lily.

In the early of the 1950s, flower production came into vogue in Europe and the US and much progress has been made on the variety of cut flowers,improvement on cut flower variety,cultivation facilities, seedling production, environment control, before-harvesting treatment, and marketing, so that it has become the most active branch of flower industry. In modern developed countries, there are much more differences between cut flower industry and traditional agricultural production. For example, quantitative management and advanced technology and equipment are applied in even tiny chains from seed, seedball, germchit to marketing of cut flowers. Meanwhile, the development of cut flower industry promotes other industries,such as greenhouse manufacturing,plastics industry and transportation industry.

According to information reported,global trade amount of flowers was fewer than 3 billion US dollars, and reached 68 billion US dollars in 1995,including fresh cut flowers of 37 billion US dollars and leaf cuttingsof 5.63 billion US dollars. The Netherlands is a large country producing and exporting fresh cut flowers. Except of flower bulbs, most cut flowers are produced in greenhouses and greenhouse area represents 70% of cut flower production area. The major cut flowers include tulip, Chinese rose, Dianthus caryophyllus, African daisy, freesia,Iris hollandica, lily and Alstroemeria aurantiaca. In general, annually produced cut flowers total tens of billions and 80% are for export. Columbia is the second largest country exporting cut flowers, involving Dianthus caryophyllus, Chinese rose, and chrysanthemum, and 85% cut flowers are export to America, with rest to Britain, Sweden and Germany. Israel is the third largest country producing cut flowers, dominated by Chinese rose and Dianthus caryophyllus, and cut flower is as high as billions, of which 90% are for export. In terms of import, however, Germany takes the 1stplace, for the imported flowers achieve 800 million US dollars every year, followed by America whose imported flowers total 600 million US dollars. As for annual consumption amount per capita, the top three are Norway,Switzerland and Japan.

China is also a large country producing and exporting fresh cut flowers,with huge potential in terms of production and consumption. Japan, Russia and European and American countries are major target countries for cut flowers in our country.Domestically,Yunnan, Guangdong and Liaoning are major provinces producing cut flowers.For example, Yunnan has two important fresh flower markets, namely,Kunming Dounan flower market and Kunming international Flora Auction Trading Center,where rose,carnation,lily, African daisy, Gypsophila paniculata, Codariocalyx motorius, Myosotis sylvatica are all available. It is notable that Kunming Dounan flower market is a traditional market for flower trading,and Kunming international Flora Auction Trading Center is an advanced flower auction market. In Guangzhou,floral market is located in Fangcun District and Lingnan flower market is the second largest flower producing site, famous for chrysanthemum,gladiolus and rose[1].

Yunnan, Guangdong and Liaoning are traditional producing areas of cut flowers in China. According to statistical data in 2012, for instance, growing area of cut flowers was 11 200 hm2in Yunnan Province,7 200 hm2in Guangdong Province and 7 000 hm2in Liaoning Province. In 2012, national export amount reached 279 million US dollars of floral products and export areas are dominated by Hong Kong,Macao,Southeast Asia and Japan. What’s more, Yunnan becomes the province with the highest export amount of cut flowers and always performs excellently in marketing due to special climate advantages and rich flower varieties. In 2012, Yunnan held 139 million US dollars in the export amount of cut flower products,increasing by 6.1%compared with 2011,and it accounted for 49.7% of export amount.Besides,in 2012,the production scales of cut flowers from high to low were Chinese rose, lily, African daisy,carnation,and gladiolus.

Nevertheless,because of a rather late start, cut flower industry still have some problems in China in terms of marketing and circulation, including policies and laws to be improved and backward science and technology,which have significantly prevented cut flower industry from development.Besides,limited cut flower variety and low promotion degree of related facilities should be also taken into consideration.On the other hand,fresh cut flowers are prone to decaying, so that technologies and equipments should be well prepared in every chain from harvesting, cleaning, grading, packaging to transportation. Currently, freshkeeping and circulation technology still falls behind in China compared with advanced countries, and loss during circulation proves serious.

At present, it becomes crucial for national cut-flower industry to learn the latest achievement and development trend of the industry and patent information analysis is the most effective way to explore development of cutflower industry. Specifically, patent information refers to collecting patent data from different sources to formulate the information into technology or management information with high values through sorting, processing, and comprehensive and scientific analyzing in order to provide services for cut flower industry development[2]. It is for market competition key to exploit patent information effective. The research, therefore, investigated status quo of cut flower industry and made predictions on the industry development in China from the perspectives of patent application quantity, application type, distribution and technology, providing references for policy formulation of governments.

Source and Retrieval of Patent Information

The patent information come from Baiten Patetn Database, Jiangsu Industry Service Platform for Intellectual Property Rights Public Technology and the key word retrieval was used on basis of the researches made by Frenken,Oltra,Jean and Haslam et al.IPC index and/or key word retrieval is much popular among scholars[3]. However,IPC index might lead to omission because of controversy at classification number. The research made use of key word retrieval to guarantee ori-entation of patent information.

The retrieval time is from 1985 to June 2014, and the key words are fresh cut flower, cut flower, cut branch or leaf cutting.Then,the same or irrelevant patents can be removed through reading. As a result, 580 patents were obtained, including 368 invention patents, 147 utility model patents, 12 appearance design and 53 patents from Taiwan, China. When the key words of fresh cut flower, cut flower,cut branch or leaf cutting were retrieved in foreign patent database, including America, Japan, Britain,France, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia,totaling 2 277 patent information was obtained,including 189 American issued patents,655 American authorized patents, 848 Japan patents,122 Britain patents,52 France patents,3 Switzerland patents, 15 Russia patents, 172 patents from PCT organizations, 116 patents of European Patent Office and 57 Korea patents.

Patent Information Analysis of fresh cut flowers

Analysis on development trend of fresh cut flower patents

Considering from application of patents, except of 2010 and 2011, the application quantity of domestic cut flowers kept increasing,and the application quantity in foreign countries was decreasing fast from 2005 to 2013.For example, the application quantity of patent totaled 100 in 2005, but dropped to 19 and 5 in 2012 and 2013,respectively. It is notable that sales volume of cut flowers is related to economy development and people’s mood. Cut flower industry develops quite well in Japan,Europe and America, but started later in China, so that relevant parents increase just recently.

Analysis on distribution of the regions with cut flower patents

As shown in Fig.3, the top ten provinces or cities with cut flower patents are Jiangsu, Beijing, Yunnan,Guangdong, Zhejiang, Henan, Shandong, Fujian, Anhui and Shanghai in China. In accordance with statistics in 2012, the provinces or cities with growing areas from high to low were Yunnan,Hubei,Guangdong,Liaoning,Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hainan,Chongqing, and Hebei. It is obvious that the two rankings have differences.Jiangsu Province has a subtropical monsoon climate, with four distinctive seasons,characterized by hot summer and chilly winter.Therefore,climate is adverse for flower growing.In Nanjing,cut flowers in markets are most from Yunnan and Guangdong, and local flowers represent a small percentage[4]. Yunnan Province takes advantages in climate and geography and wins the 1stin terms of both growing area and export volume of cut flowers.However, the application quantity falls behind compared with Jiangsu and Beijing.

As shown in Fig.4, the top ten countries or organizations with cut flower patents are Japan, America,PCT organization, Britain, Europe,Korea, France, Germany and Russia.Floral production is closely related to natural conditions, for example, the Netherlands, Columbia, Israel, Italy,Spain, Kenya, Denmark, Belgium,Germany and Thailand are well known flower export countries. It is reported by the Netherlands Floral Association that cut flowers of the Netherlands accounts for 70% worldwide in terms of export volume,of Columbia represents 11%, Israel represents 6%, Italy 5%,Spain 3%, Kenya 1% and others 4%.The Netherlands is the largest country producing and exporting flowers.Specifically, the cultivation area is as extensive as 10 000 hm2, and annual cut flowers is as high as tens of billions, of which over 80% cut flowers are exported to Germany, France,Italy, and the Switzerland, with export amount of 4 billion US dollars.

Different with floral yields, the countries with the most patents are Japan and America. Japan takes advantages in cultivar breeding and cultivation technology on basis of precision agriculture,so that standard management is applied in chains, such as production, storage and marketing.What’s more, Japan is one of the largest country consuming flowers,and the country importing the most orchid and lily in the world. As for America,it is a major floral consumption center,as well as an important importing county of flowers from Columbia,including Chinese rose, carnation and chrysanthemum.

Analysis on patent applicant of cut flowers

According to statistics,the top ten patent applicants in China include Beijing Forestry University, China Agricultural University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu Junma Agriculture&Forestry Co., Ltd, Zhao Qinshan, Henan University of Science and Technology, Post Entry Quarantine Station for Tropical Plant, Hainan Entry Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, PRC, the Institute of Flowers of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing Tongze Agricultural S&T Co., Ltd, and Nanjing Forestry University and the top ten abroad are the Conard-Pyle Company (West Grove,PA); Bear Creek Gardens, Inc.(Medford,OR), SUMITOMO CHEMICAL CO, SUMITOMO CHEM CO LTD, KUBOTA CORP, Melridge Inc.(Gresham,OR), INPATSUKU KK,KUBOTA KK, RENGO CO LTD, and ISEKI AGRICULT MACH.It is obviousthat the patents of cut flower are mostly applied by universities or institutions domestically, and the proportion of enterprise is lower. In contrast, the applied patents abroad are most from companies. Therefore, the consciousness of patent protection is not so well accepted in China, which falls behind compared with the United States and Japan. In universities and research institutions, it is hard for the patent achievements to be applied and promoted to markets.

Analysis on classification of cut flower patent technology

Based on analysis on IPC, the major fields of patent of cut flower concentrate in A and B.

In China, the top five patents in terms of number include A01N3/02(chemical preservation of cut branches),A01G1/00 (horticulture: cultivation of vegetable and flower), A01H4/00(plant regeneration based on tissue culture),A01G5/00 (flower cultivation),and B65D85/50 (transportation, packaging and storage of bionts or materials sensitive to environment or atmosphere changes, such as aquatic plants, buds, fresh flowers, and leaves). In foreign countries, the top 6 patent numbers are A01H5/00(anthophyte or the method of obtaining anthophyte; plant regeneration by tissue culture), A01N3/00 (storage of plants or parts of plants), A01G5/00,B65D85/50, A01N3/02 and A47G7/00(flower framework and analogue). It can be concluded that cut flower patents,at home or abroad,both concentrate on plant regeneration based on tissue culture, as well as preservation method in transportation and storage.

Layout and Characteristics of Cut Flower Industry

Analysis on cut flower industry competition

Commercialized production of cut flowers started from the 1980s, and planted by farmers nearby Kunming spontaneously. In the 1990s, the area and yield of cut flowers grow dramatically. For example, the production area increased from 7 148 to 44 079.3 hm2from 1998 to 2008,and output value from 1.656 to 7.811 billion yuan.What’ more, export value enhanced from 15.4 to 203 million yuan from 1998 to 2008[5]. Yunnan and Guandong provinces always takes advantages in cut flower competition, involving large scale, more flower growers and employees, as well as sales volume,because of special climate.However, the absolute competitiveness is decreasing. Comparatively, the competitiveness of Jiangsu, Zhejiang,Henan and Shandong keeps growing.

In foreign countries, traditional nations, such as the Netherlands, the Columbia, and Israel, still play a leading role,but countries,such as the United States and Japan, performs increasingly powerful in competition,due to high quantity of patent application and consumption capacity.

Analysis on cut flower patent technology distribution

The leading role of Yunnan and Guangdong in terms of cut flower industry is contributed by climate.Nevertheless, technology, facilities and methods are also crucial in competition of cut flower industry, covering greenhouse, cultivation, transportation and storage. For instance, thanks for application of imported greenhouses,Jiangsu and Zhejiang take part in researching regeneration method of plant tissues, so that cut flower industry develops fast, making up the shortage from climate. It is notable that cut flower industry is a labor-intensive and capital/technology-intensive industry.Therefore, both of global and provincial competition is actually the competition on the whole industry chain,relying on technology and an improved servicing system[5].

On basis of analysis on cut flower patent technology, most patents con-centrate on tissue culture and preservation methods at transportation and storage. Specifically, plant tissue culture is the process separating the required tissues,organs or cells from the organism to regenerate a whole plant on culture media under sterile conditions. Hence, plant tissue culture can be controlled by people, which can be applied in cultivating new cultivars and advancing cut flower industry due to short growth term, high cultivation rate and rapid propagation.

Currently, the patents on preservation technology of cut flowers are confined in one category, including physical preservation, chemical preservation, and genetic engineering preservation[6]. However, there are many problems on domestic preservation methods on cut flowers. At the very beginning, the mechanism on preservatives is not well explored. For example,a preservative is just suitable for preservation of one cultivar, which prevents the extension. Secondly, research on preservation technology is not integrated with quality of cut flowers before, at and after-picking. Instead, more attention is paid to preservation of after-picking cut flowers. Finally, the mechanism of flower aging is not well recognized, which prevents cut flower industry from development. It is known that cut flower would lose nutrients after separation with original plants,followed by withering, so that preservation concerns ornamental and economic values of cut flowers. Therefore, research on preservation technology of cut flowers should give priority to preservatives to promote the application in markets,develop new preservation methods suitable for more flower cultivars and formulate system scientific systematization of index on measuring preservation effects.

Countermeasures and Expectation of Cut Flower Patent Distribution

Future development of fresh cut flower industry in China

Floral products include fresh cut flower, potted plant, bonsai, dried flower and ornamental nursery stocks,of which cut flowers are major products. Although started late, cut flowers keep increasing in market shares,depending on rich labor sources and low cost[7]. Furthermore, flower cultivars vary significantly upon climates in China,so that cut flower export enjoys a promising future. As quality and quantity of cut flower grow, annual amount and volume of exports maintain growth with a rate of 30%.However,limited by high demands on preservation and logistics, the major export markets are neighboring countries and regions. For example, the amounts of exports of Japan,HK,Singapore, Thailand, and Russia represent 88.7%. Japan is one of countries consuming global flowers, as well as major export markets of flower products from China, especially for cut flowers[8]. Nevertheless, the dominant advantages have not been totally transformed into competitive strength.For instance, with excellent climate and geographical conditions, Yunnan still has a lot of room for improvement in export,because of problems in production and preservation. For example,domestic floral consumption is still dominated by presenting gifts and festival consumption.Additionally, in China,consumers of cut flowers are dominated by the middle class and the number is growing. It can be concluded that the demand of cut flowers would increase dramatically by the middle class in China.

Assessment on cut flower patent technology

Emerging cut flower industry would develop based on technologies,such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Compared with decreasing patent quantity of cut flower in foreign countries, the quantity of patent is increasing sharply and new applicant bodies are emerging,advancing operation and development of the industry.Considering from IPC distribution, however, the proportion of science and technology still keeps lower.

It is necessary to make full use of production potential and comparative advantages of cut flowers in order to improve market shares and change the comparative advantages to competitive edges in China[9],including low labor cost, rich climate and geographical resources, and advanced technology of tissue culture.Besides,on basis of traditional markets, it is important to adjust target market of export to broaden emerging and promising markets in Europe, American continent and Africa,relying on preservation and transportation technologies.

Research on innovation strategies of cut flower industry

In China, there are many problems of flower growing, such as single cultivar, low promotion of facilities and low profits, but the characteristics of cut flowers are good quality, high efficiency and intensive production[1]. In terms of flower planting,therefore, it is necessary to intensify cooperation with the countries with advanced technology and make use of new technology,covering facility-based cultivation, industrialized seedling production, soilless culture and after-picking preservation. After China joining the WTO,export trade is extending, but global market share is lower, concerning backwardness of cold-chain logistics of cut flowers[10].In addition,it is necessary to learn from countries, like Columbia and Ecuador in terms of cold-chain logistics of cut flower to enhance innovation of flower storage and preservation, and improve flower freshness.

On the other hand,the quantity of floral enterprise is not lower, but most are dominated by individual flower growers in a small scale, far from industrial division-cooperation. What’s worse, professional quality, cultivation technology, management and industry organization are all not satisfied[11]. It becomes urgent to advance the industrialization of floral industry, including implementing leading strategy,cultivating powerful industry main body, broadening development scale,reinforcing industry service and the role of intermediary agents, to provide references of seed cultivation, flower culture, packaging, transportation and marketing for floral farmers and enterprise.

Either at home or abroad, cut flowers enjoy a promising development potential in market. In Europe and the United States, for example,the situation of supply falling short of demand from Asian markets, dominated by Japan and HK, would continue for a long term. As for well-developed floral enterprises, governments should give supports in terms of policy,capital and technology. In China, it is necessary to establish cut flower industry oriented by export by improving quality of cut flowers, broadening export scale, enhancing export channel,extending foreign markets. Besides,internet commerce can be fully made use of to promote cut flower trade[12],which saves costs,accelerates market information flow and broadens trading platforms.

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