Hong Kong’s flower market on Prince Edward Road West—a 500-metre stretch supplying
For an insight into how this market operates at street level, speak with Wong Kam-fai, a third-generation wholesaler at Wing Wo Flower Shop. He arrives at his stall at 3:30 am each morning, when the first lorry of chrysanthemums from Yunnan arrives. Wong explains that the price of a single stem can fluctuate by 300 per cent within a single day, depending on the volume passing through the checkpoint at Lok Ma Chau. A simple bouquet that sells for HK$180 at 10 am might be marked down to HK$60 by 4 pm, yet the wholesale cost to him remains fixed at HK$22 per bunch. He notes that the most volatile commodity is the Phalaenopsis orchid, which commands a premium of up to HK$1,200 per plant during Lunar New Year but can drop to HK$280 a fortnight later. Wong’s ledger reveals a pattern: the largest single buyer in the market is not a florist but a chain of 24-hour convenience stores, which purchases 800 bunches of carnations weekly for their front-of-counter displays. “The public thinks we sell to weddings,” he says. “In truth, we sell to the corner shop.”
