Where do your Valentine’s Day Flowers come from? They may travel farther than you think
Miami International Airport is spreading the love this February.
The airport receives 91% of all the flowers imported to the United States for Valentine’s Day. And while most people head to MIA to fly commercial, the cargo area is running at full force this time of year. Miami has the largest importer airport in the United States, with the country’s largest cold storage facility for perishable goods.
MIA projects that from January through mid-February, 1.4 billion flower stems will be imported, a 17% increase from the same period last year.
Flower imports to the U.S. mostly come from South America. This year, 75% of Valentine’s Day flower imports are from Colombia, 20% from Ecuador and 5% from other countries.
“Basically, you can extrapolate that around 9 out of 10 Americans who receives flowers from their sweethearts this year are receiving flowers that came through MIA,” said Jimmy Nares, the section chief of the marketing division at the Miami-Dade Aviation Apartment.
So how did MIA become a hub for flower imports?
Nares says there are two main factors. One is obvious: Geographic proximity to Latin America. Air cargo is expensive, but with Colombia within about three hours of MIA, it’s one of the closest entry points to the United States. Then, because of that geographic proximity to Latin America, MIA has invested heavily in cold storage facilities and in attracting import partnerships. Of the nearly 100 carriers at MIA, 40 are exclusively freight carriers.
And it’s not just flowers. MIA receives tons of fruit, vegetables and frozen seafood from across Latin America. In 2021, the airport set a record for 2.7 million tons of total freight, marking a second consecutive year of growth.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 1:04 PM.
