CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE
CA X-MAS TREES
12-09-09
Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.
Growing Christmas trees is a big business in the US and in California. There
are approximately 25 to 30 million Christmas trees harvested in the US every year.
There are 350,000 acres used in growing Christmas trees in the nation, with over
15,000 farms growing trees, employing nearly 100,000 people full or part time in
the industry.
Nationally, the consumer spends on average $36.00 for a tree and based upon recent
sales, constitutes about $1 billion in sales annually. Oregon is the largest grower
of trees by far, based on the most trees; the most acreage planted and has the most
operations in the nation followed by Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan and New
Jersey. And the most popular trees are Balsam, Douglas, Frasier and Noble firs and
Scotch, Virginia and white pines
Growing Christmas trees in California is a good business. The state ranks 12th in
the nation for Christmas tree operators. The state has 322 operators, but down from
402 in 2002. Additionally, the Golden State ranks 14th in acreage with 4400 acres
of trees however down from nearly 8,000 acres in 2002. This decline is reflective
for nearly all states as identified in the 2007 USDA Annual Survey released earlier
this year. Most of the states have seen significant declines in the marketplace
(except for Oregon and Maine) created by the decline in the economy, market saturation
and the additional of artificial trees.
For example, Oregon harvested over 6.8 million trees in 2007 whereas California
growers ranked 15th in the nation for trees harvested at nearly 120,000 in 2007
down from 383,000 in 2002. Oregon growers are projected to cut and sale over 7
million trees this year. As you can see, California does not grow enough trees to
support the demand of its population. Therefore Oregon growers have helped fill that
demand, shipping millions of trees south to the Golden State
Results from a 2008 poll by the national industry association showed that consumers
in the U.S. purchased 28.2 million farm-grown Christmas trees and 11.7 million
artificial trees. But both are in decline from 2007, with interestingly, the
artificial tree category showing a steeper decline of 35%, while real trees were
down by only about 10%. Few in the industry illustrate any significant change in
the trend for this year from last.
I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.
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