Declaration freshness
Dear purchaser/retailer,
Preserve the Freshness of Natural Christmas Trees
A Christmas tree is a living quality product that is used on Christmas Eve/during the Christmas season – the most important event of the year.
To ensure that consumers obtain a positive experience with a natural Christmas tree, it is important that the tree stay fresh all the way from producer to consumer. This is of vital importance to both Christmas tree growers and traders. Premature harvest and delivery may lead to drying out, which in turn may result in needle loss. Moreover, too long storage on pallets under pressure may prevent the tree to appear beautiful when unpacked.
Ongoing deliveries
Christmas traditions and Christmas tree sales vary between the European countries, but the consumer demand for Christmas trees is typically distributed with a smaller proportion around the first Advent weekend (especially potted trees), while the majority of consumers buy the cut natural Christmas tree during the last 10-14 days before Christmas Eve.
Therefore, to ensure fresh Christmas trees for the entire sales season, it is important not to start up the sales season too early and to have continuous deliveries of fresh trees, instead of purchasing the entire expected sales volume all at once for the season start-up in November.
Correct handling
Today, most cut natural Christmas trees are delivered on large pallets, where trees are compressed to reduce the overall transport volume for climate and financial purposes. The large pallets are designed for transport purposes and not for being used as storage units. It is therefore paramount that the trees be unpacked immediately after delivery to avoid unnecessary strain on the trees.
To keep cut Christmas trees fresh, drying out must be limited by storing the trees in a shady, cool, moist and sheltered spot as opposed to in a dry and hot spot exposed to wind. In addition, we suggest sprinkling of the trees, as it can limit the drying out process.
Yours sincerely,
The European Christmas tree growers
Get as pdf-file: