Tree prices are climbing fast. The reason is not hard to fathom - the demand for trees is increasing, along with the amount of people willing to cut them down and sell them for timber, and the resultant cut down size of trees. In many parts of the country, particularly in the south-west and the north-east of England, tree prices have doubled over the last year. While the reasons for this jump in demand for Christmas trees may be different in each area, some of the other factors that are thought to have had an impact are detailed in this article.
One thing that has made tree prices rise is the availability of trees. In years gone by, it took a large amount of effort to get a tree farm under contract, sometimes taking years, and required a lot of money and a whole lot of energy on the part of the farmer. Those days are over. Nowadays, there are well-organized tree farms operating just a few hours away from the main cities, which can supply all the Christmas trees a town needs. This has been an advantage for the consumers, because it means that they do not have to travel too far to get the perfect type of tree.
Another thing that has helped cut tree prices down is that in the last year or two, more growers have entered into specialist trades. They are able to offer specialist Christmas trees and they tend to specialize in particular varieties. For example, some of the growers who are specialists at producing pearl trees have also established themselves as producers of holly, mistletoe and orchids.
There are also other things that have helped cut down tree prices. For one, technological development - which includes genetically altered trees - has meant that the chances of a tree getting infected with a disease or bug are much less. Secondly, new processes have been developed that make the cutting and pruning of Christmas trees much easier and faster, and this is obviously good news for consumers. In the last year or so, hybrid types of artificial trees have become popular, especially ones that have been made to look exactly like traditional varieties. These types of artificial trees tend to be cheaper than the real ones. They are also better insulating, which means that they require less energy to keep them warm and to cool.
One thing that is helping cut Christmas tree prices down even more is the fact that there are now many more tree wholesalers around. Most of the big box stores such as Wal-mart, Target, K-Mart and Costco, for example, have been buying larger amounts of their merchandise from online vendors in recent years, mainly because they do not face the extra overhead costs associated with retailing at these big scale. At the same time, many small vendors have begun to venture into the internet world. These small vendors are able to buy their merchandise from the wholesalers and then sell to the end users at a much cheaper price. The result is a fall in prices for the products of all kinds sold by these online merchants.
Some people argue that farmers are the main factor responsible for the drop in Christmas tree prices. However, there has been a large increase in the number of small farmers trying to get their products to market. It has been reported that these farmers have reduced their tree planting capacity because they cannot grow as many trees as they once did. The result is that the amount of trees being produced by the entire industry has dropped.