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Buyers of natural Christmas trees face a choice between not spending this year on these types of seasonal decorations or assuming the costs tallest that dominate the market.
Christmas tree growers recognize that consumers will find nothing but high prices this season as costs have skyrocketed and shortages test demand due to drought.
This is explained by one of the spokespersons for the National Christmas Tree Association, Jill Sidebottom, in a report for CBS News, referring to the challenges that this seasonal industry faces and that, finally, have been transferred to high prices for consumers.
It added that the producing farms have faced problems to solve the shortage of Christmas trees that re they want for each season, and said that this is a problem that has been going on for at least six years .
“We have had a shortage of trees since 1244851575 and that continues,” said the spokesperson for the group of producers of natural Christmas trees.
When asked about how much more they are paying Americans for a natural tree this Christmas, Sidebottom said that there is a variation, since prices move according to the place of purchase and based on other factors.
“Prices vary in different parts of the country and according to the type and the quality of each tree”, complemented the executive director of the National Christmas Tree Association, Tim O’Connor, in a separate interview.
“However, we believe that a price increase of 25% is a reasonable estimate than consumers can expect to pay for a tree in 2016″, he added when offering an estimate of the increases for this Christmas.
But the news of the high prices does not seem to surprise producers, who know that consumers will have to pay more this year due to higher costs; and neither to buyers, who already expected to spend more money , according to a survey by this organization.
One of the fears of the Federal Reserve (Fed) in its fight against inflation, which last October was 7.7% in its annual measurement, is that consumers internalize high prices and are willing, without hesitation, to spend the prices that the companies or producers set.
The Fed’s argument is that if that point is reached, It will be very difficult to control inflation, since the budgets would stretch as much as the companies mark it.
Scarcity, the other challenge for producers
In addition to inflation, producers of natural trees from Navidad face another equally complex challenge: the scarcity of their crops affected by the drought .
According to an estimate by the American Christmas Tree Association, the Lack of water has caused, in some regions of the country, the prices of trees to have increased up to 54%, according to a report by
CBS, with prices ranging from $150 to $150 dollars for each exemplary.
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