Aalsmeer Flower Auction

{{Short description|Horticultural event in the Netherlands}}

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Aalsmeer Flower Auction (Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer) is a flower auction that takes place in Aalsmeer, Netherlands. It is the largest flower auction in the world. The Aalsmeer Flower Auction building is the ninth largest building by floor area in the world, covering {{convert|999000|m2|sqft acre}}.{{cite web|title=Aalsmeer information |url=http://www.aalsmeer.nl/00004.asp |accessdate=2008-01-24 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102024143/http://www.aalsmeer.nl/00004.asp |archivedate=2008-01-02 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=17 December 2014|title=NY Times Post|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/world/europe/dutch-flower-auction-long-industrys-heart-is-facing-competition-.html|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=|last1=Schuetze|first1=Christopher F.}}{{cite web |title=Largest flower auction |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-flower-auction |website=Guiness World Records |access-date=1 December 2024}} Flowers from all over the world — Europe, Israel, Ecuador, Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and other countries — are traded every day in this gigantic building. Around 43 million flowers are sold daily.{{cite web|title=VisitAaslmeer |url=https://www.visitaalsmeer.nl/en/facts-flower-auction-aalsmeer/ |accessdate=2022-02-15}} This increases by around 15 percent around special days such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Their flowers are subjected to around 30 quality checks so that they can be graded on a scale (A1, A2 and B).

The auction is set up as a Dutch auction in which the price starts high and works its way down. Bidders get only a few seconds to bid on the flowers before they are sold and passed on to the new owner. On 1 January 2008, the auction company merged with its biggest competitor Royal FloraHolland.{{Cite web|last=Flower Auction|date=18 October 2018|title=European Waterways|url=https://www.europeanwaterways.com/blog/flower-power-aalsmeer-auction/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812085016/https://www.europeanwaterways.com/blog/flower-power-aalsmeer-auction/ |archive-date=2020-08-12 |access-date=|website=}}

In 2021 the organiser of the auction, Royal Flora Holland, acquired three companies that specialise in the transportation of flowers and plants: De Winter, Van Marrewijk (Wematrans) and Van Zaal. They were combined into a new transportation company called Floriway.{{Cite web |title=Royal Flora Holland mag drie vervoerders van bloemen en planten overnemen |url=https://www.transport-online.nl/site/130559/royal-flora-holland-mag-drie-vervoerders-van-bloemen-en-planten-overnemen/ |access-date=2023-01-23 |language=nl |trans-title=Royal Flora Holland is given permission to take over three carriers of flowers and plants |website=Transport Online }}