The overall market for nursery produce is continuing to grow with the major growth taking place in the landscape sector.

Much of this growth is now being fuelled by imports particularly from Holland and Italy. Imports in 2002 were estimated at €9.7m and in 2005 were estimated by Bord Bia at €30.0m with the nursery industry, landscape contractors and garden centres importing €10m each.

The independent garden centres continue to dominate sales at retail level but there has been significant increased involvement in the domestic market by DIY sheds, supermarkets, florist's etc.

A feature of all markets is the movement towards larger sizes for specific categories of plants.

Market knowledge is therefore essential for new and established nurseries to have successful businesses. The product range, labelling, supply, delivery, pricing etc will vary from market to market. Indications are that nursery stock sales will increase over the next number of years for plants grown to an exceptionally high quality but there will be more and more pressure on margins particularly as a result of increased competition from Dutch and Italian suppliers.

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