CHRISTMAS TREE growers are struggling to get their product to the market because of the poor weather which is hampering harvesting.
There is continuing debate on whether or not there will be a scarcity of trees for the festive season. One big supplier said yesterday he will continue to harvest trees up until a few days before Christmas.
“While we are struggling to keep up with demand right now, we will continue to bring trees to customers right up until Christmas,” said Christy Kavanagh of Kavanagh’s Christmas Trees in Wicklow.
“It is amazing how many people leave buying their tree until the last minute, and we have to be there to cater for that,” he said.
“I know a lot of people come home for Christmas and pick up a tree on their way and that is why we keep harvesting to meet that need,” he added.
Moving the trees down from his plantation, which is at 305m (1,000ft), was proving difficult this year, he said, but everyone was working flat out to ensure the harvest was won.
“The main problem is getting them out of here to the outlets because the roads have been in such a terrible condition,” he said.
The chairman of the Irish Christmas Tree Growers’ group, Dermot Page, said there was a shortage of trees throughout Europe this year where there was was an estimated shortfall of four million trees, and this could be the case here. Irish producers deliver some 700,000 trees annually, 300,000 for export and the rest for the domestic market.
Mr Page said the output from the sector was worth in excess of €12 million.
Most of the trees which were scheduled for export have already left the country, but growers such as Mr Kavanagh have decided to concentrate on the home market this year.
Coillte, the State forestry service, is phasing out large-scale Christmas-tree production but will still produce more than 30,000 trees this year for sale from its 16 depots around the country.
Consumers can expect to pay between €30 and €60 for their tree this year and it is most likely to be a Nordmann fir.
There has been a significant switch to this species from the Norway spruce over recent years because the Nordmann fir does not shed its needles.