"With the National Day and the Mid-autumn Festival coinciding this year, we had prepared for a two-fold or three-fold increase in sales, but failed to achieve that target," said Kong Xianying, manager of Shine Flowers, which sells phalaenopsis at Jingwen Flower market.

Still, sales of phalaenopsis, a high-grade orchid, at Jingwen, one of Shanghai's largest flower markets, rose significantly during the holiday season, said a Jingwen official.

Another kind of imported upmarket orchid, Dancing Lady, as well as Siberia lily, also sold like hot cakes, said an official with the market's general management department, who identified herself only as Xu.

"Sales of these flowers jumped dramatically last week, compared with a year earlier," she added.

Industry officials and flower vendors, however, declined to reveal last week's sales figures, which they said would be available today.

"People are now willing to spend money to show their tastes. Siberia lily, for instance, was enthusiastically welcomed," Xu said. "It's a new trend. Young couples use the imported lily to decorate their wedding sedans."

But one store that sells lilies only warned that the lily fever could be short-lived.

The price of a bouquet of 10 homegrown lilies, for instance, surged 30 percent to about 100 yuan (US$12.05) early last week and then fell back to 70 yuan.

"I didn't import any lily this autumn, neither did other sellers, I believe, as the imported lilies are too expensive to attract buyers," said the manager of a Jingwen lily store, who only gave her surname Xie. "Homegrown lilies are also abundant on the local market."

After the holidays, flower sellers normally face a sharp plunge in sales, which should last at least half a month.

In spite of their disappointing holiday sales, upmarket flowers are becoming increasingly popular among local consumers, said flower sellers.

"We opened the first store selling high-grade orchids at Jingwen several years ago. Now we have five competitors, but our sales remain steady," said Kong with Shine Flowers.

"That means local demand is continuously growing," he noted.

(eastday.com 10/08/2001)