Christmas tree business: Favorite Christmas tree faces competition

The perfect fir tree for Christmas should look beautiful, not needles and smell good. The Nordmann fir is and will remain popular. Alternatives to the natural tree are putting pressure on the fir market.

Melania Trump is not without controversy, but the first lady knows how to get in the festive mood. At the end of November she presented 62 pompously decorated Christmas trees in the White House. With thick balls, colorful fairy lights and red bows. It looks beautiful, but there's a tough business behind it. The industry turns over more than 700 million euros per party in Germany alone, and it increases a little every year.

Most of the money is earned by traditional Christmas tree growers, of whom there are around 2000 in this country. Christian Mütherich is one of them. He is the third generation to cultivate around 120 hectares of acreage in his tree nursery. The majority of his trees grow in the North Rhine-Westphalian Sauerland, the largest German cultivation area. It is a long and complex road before the Nordmann fir ends up with the buyer. Twelve years can pass before the harvest, says the Christmas tree producer in the ntv podcast "Wieder was Learned". The individual Christmas trees have to be cut into shape every year to regulate the flow of sap.

Germans put almost 30 million Christmas trees in their living rooms every year. There are now so many that more than two million fir trees have to be imported to meet the demand. More than 7,000 seasonal workers are working on German Christmas tree plantations. The work in the cultures is arduous and exhausting, it would not be possible without Polish harvest workers.

The favorite child is also a problem child

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(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)

But despite intensive care, not every tree makes it into the living room. The Nordmann fir is by far the most popular Christmas tree among Germans, around three quarters of them bring the classic home for the festival. The fir is not only a favorite, but also a problem child. It is very difficult to raise, says Christian Mütherich. 40 percent of the germs are not capable of germination at all. It also takes the Nordmann fir a year or two before its seeds take hold. That leads to major failures.

The susceptibility to frost and the growth also decide whether the Nordmann fir ends up with the customer or directly in the shredder. In most cases, the tree is only bought if it shows lush green needles and has grown nicely in layers and bushes, explains the tree grower. Only then can one demand the full price. For most Germans, a meter of Christmas tree is worth around 20 to 30 euros. One in five spends up to 40 euros on the fir, almost one in ten even pays more than 50 euros.

The question of how the tree was grown also plays an increasingly important role in the purchase decision. Do you help with chemistry? Or is everything just as Mother Nature wanted it to be? Women in particular are willing to dig deeper into their wallets for an organically grown fir tree.

Christian Mütherich relies on sustainable Christmas tree cultivation. A new tree is replanted where another tree has been felled or taken out of the ground. However, spraying is allowed, as is the case with many other large producers with huge areas of cultivation. You give the tree what it needs in terms of nutrients, says the Sauerland.

Label fraud on the organic tree

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(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)

It is different with organic farming. Of the around 2,000 Christmas tree growers in Germany, fewer than 100 grow the unsprayed organic fir with a certificate. It's a niche product with much smaller crops. Among other things, because it doesn't always contain organic when it says organic, warns Bernd Pirrone from the Organic Christmas Tree Germany initiative, an association of independent organic Christmas tree producers. Time and again there are free riders among the retailers who offer Christmas trees from supposedly organic cultivation with prices below 15 euros per meter, but which are not certified.

With alternatives to the classic fir tree, several startups are also trying to make the Christmas tree business more sustainable. Thomas Müller from Mainz-Kastell offers Christmas trees for rent. They don't end up in the trash after Christmas, but back on his property.

"You can choose the trees online or via video telephony," explains the Tannen founder. "Then they are packed and shipped, in the local area we bring them to the door ourselves. Then you can keep and decorate the trees for an agreed period of time. When they come back, we dig them back in and look after them for another year – like that the trees can experience many Christmases. "

One tree, lots of Christmas

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(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)

The tree for rent is available from Müller with shipping and packaging for just under 90 euros. Some customers even order the same tree every year. After Christmas they come back in a box. The customers care about the look, says the founder. For most, however, it is much more important that the tree does not die after Christmas, but that it is cared for.

With a lot of patience, he nurtures the returned trees. The rental firs are not sprayed or fertilized, and Müller personally pulls out the weeds on his property. The Christmas tree enthusiast, as his startup is called, still runs the business on a part-time basis. But the demand for the fir trees to rent is growing, and especially in winter it is increasingly becoming a full-time job.

Thomas Müller is no longer alone in the market with his rental concept. In the meantime, larger retailers are also offering trees for a limited period in addition to their conventional business. Alternatives are becoming increasingly attractive for customers who not only want a beautiful tree but also a clear conscience. But even if sustainability is the trend, one thing is clear: the Nordmann fir is still the classic among Christmas trees.

You can find all the episodes of "Wieder Was Learned" in the ntv app, Audio Now, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can use the RSS feed for all other podcast apps. Copy and paste the feed url and simply add "Again Learned" to your podcast subscriptions.

"Learned Again" is a podcast for the curious: Why can the little ant shake China? How is Nokia bringing the LTE network to the moon? Why is the Rhine "rebuilt"? Listen to it and get a little smarter 3 times a week.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Christmas