Natural Christmas trees are likely to cost about 10% more this holiday season because of rising production costs and tight supplies of farm-grown trees. “This year, they’re going to go up,” said Tim O’Connor, executive director of the US National Christmas Tree Association, a trade group for growers. The typical price of a cut evergreen was about USD 70 last year.
Demand for real Christmas Trees
The fact is that real Christmas trees appear to be the exception to the anticipated “pullback” in consumer spending for the 2023 holidays. “This industry consistently meets demand,” said Marsha Gray, Executive Director of the US Real Christmas Tree Board. “This year, two-thirds of the wholesale growers (67%) surveyed told us they expect to sell all the trees they plan to harvest. And that’s how we, retailers, and consumers like it.”
Consumers with young families are mostly buying real Christmas trees because they match their value system. “These are the same people who are buying organic foods,” Tim O´Connor says. “They want to know that their purchases are contributing to sustainability. There is clearly a movement happening, and we are trying to help consumers understand the difference between a plastic tree and a tree grown on a farm in the United States, maybe even locally.”
While some shoppers enjoy visiting a farm to choose a tree, the chain stores also sell Christmas trees. They may even offer lower prices as a way to get customers in the door to make other purchases. Still, some people prefer to skip the regular watering and stray pine needles and buy artificial trees, which look increasingly realistic. Prices range from a couple of hundred dollars to more than a thousand, but the tree can be used for years, and many come with built-in lights. The biggest manufacturers are based in China. Approximately 80% of artificial trees worldwide are manufactured in China. “We sell most of our trees to the United States: gaudy ones with flashing lights,” says Reng Guoan, general manager of the Sinte An Christmas tree factory, which manufactures more than a million artificial trees each year.
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China as the leading Decoration Manufacturer
Not only Christmas trees, but also the expenses for holiday decoration are higher every year. In 2019, Americans spent an average of USD 230 on holiday decor. However, this figure is growing. According to the US portal Rocket Homes, the average person in the U.S. spends approximately USD 269 on decorations each year. The cost of powering Christmas lights and inflatable decorations has gone up by almost 60%.
Every October, containers filled with Chinese-made Christmas gifts and decorations are shipped worldwide. They are then exchanged among overseas customers. According to Statista, the platform that specialises in data gathering, China was the leading exporting country of Christmas decorations globally in 2022, with exports of such articles amounting to over 9.7 billion U.S. dollars. The Netherlands and India were some of the other key suppliers of Christmas decorations worldwide. It means that around 60% of the world’s Christmas decorations come from 600 factories surrounding Yiwu, a city 300 kilometres out of Shanghai. Here, aisle after aisle of large cubicles displays an array of holiday decorations, from Santa Claus masks to stockings, artificial Christmas trees, and metallic-coloured tinsel.
“This year, we’ve received approximately 20% more orders for Christmas products compared to last year. We have already delivered most of the orders,” said Zheng Pengfei, general manager of Shunmei Group, a ceramics exporter based in southeast China’s Fujian Province, to People´s Daily Online magazine. Well, the Christmas holiday can start.
