Bui Van Sy, 61, stands in his brightly lit packing shed from dawn until late at night as dozens of workers trim, sort and pack flowers for shipment nationwide. Trucks move in and out of the yard, collecting consignments bound for provinces across the country.
At Sy Lam Flower Farm, work begins at 5 am and often runs until 11 pm sometimes through the night in the days leading up to Tet. Sy said demand this year has risen more than 50 per cent compared with normal periods, with several varieties selling out by mid-lunar month.
“Any delay means missing a shipment,” he said, checking boxes destined for northern and central Vietnam.
According to Cao Tran Quynh Trang in Lang Biang Ward in Dalat, daily shipments during Tet have increased nearly tenfold. Prolonged cold spells delayed flowering for some varieties, even as market demand spiked, leading to shortages.
Cut flowers must be harvested and packed overnight to maintain freshness, meaning workers often labour from early morning until midnight, or through the night, to meet transport deadlines before shipping services pause for the holiday.
At Sy’s farm, around 30 workers are employed at peak capacity. Wages are doubled during the period, with bonuses and meals provided, though some staff leave early to reunite with families, adding pressure on those remaining.
Trang’s farm employs more than 10 workers who take shifts packing and loading refrigerated trucks. Festive meals are reduced to quick lunches beside stacks of flowers, with many postponing family preparations until closer to Tet.
“We plan to rest only on New Year’s Eve. Once the final truck leaves, we can finally relax," Trang added.
Sy began with just a few hundred square metres of land and has expanded to four hectares, supplying flowers nationwide and gradually entering export markets. “Seeing our flowers across markets and streets at Tet makes the hard work worthwhile,” he said.
For Trang, loyalty to customers and workers is as important as profit. “Tet orders are exhausting, but I want to ensure my staff receive proper bonuses after a hard year,” she noted
As families gather to welcome the new year, flower growers in Lam Dong continue working through cold nights, ensuring each shipment departs on time and every bloom reaches customers at its best.
