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MONTPELIER, Vt (AP) – People may need to fill back their expectations of the Christmas tree this year.
tight supply means some buyers are paying more and more looking for that perfect Christmas tree for the holiday season. But m & # 39; & # 39 are needed; purchase & # 39; panic on Black Friday because industry experts say that consumers will end up something to decorate this holiday season.
The yuletide market imbalance was created ten years ago when there was a glut of & # 39; Christmas trees and along the Great Recession to run several producers outside the business. Now the supply is tight and take eight to ten years – the time needed to grow Christmas trees – to strengthen supply.
"It's wrong. It's the worst I have seen in & # 39; a long time," said Matthew LaCasce, co-owner of Christmas Tree farm in Finestkind & # 39; Dover, FoxCroft, Maine. The farm sells about 10,000 trees per season and returning daily orders from retailers desperate, said LaCasce.
Sellers largest retail fine doing well, say officials. Are smaller charities, the school groups, and mom-and-pop operators had to fight for trees.
In Hawaii, the seller of Christmas trees Richard Tajiri said outgoing short tree in 1000 & # 39; this season.
"It will be hard for everyone. M & # 39; there is nothing you can & # 39; do about it," said Tajiri, who is marking several dozen calls a day in & # 39; Onholulu. "It is the first, first served."
Lovell & # 39; s Florist and Nursery in & # 39; Metford, Massachusetts, resorted to a hodgepodge of & # 39; suppliers from Canada, North Carolina and West Coast because the retailer regular bulk could not give , said the owner LaVerne Lovell. They were waiting for their last 1,000 tree will be Friday.
"It was about two days & # 39; complete panic", she recalled. "The Christmas season carries us in the winter. If you do not have any tree, this would be a real nightmare."
The American Legion in & # 39; Dover, Massachusetts, had also looking high and low for 450 tree for its annual fundraiser. "It is becoming difficult", said Tom McGill, who oversees the effort.
The problems of supply and demand m & # 39; are nothing new. Like crop & # 39; the other, the Christmas trees are commodity cycles undergo a few trees to oversupply.
But regional factors are also aggravate the problem.
For example, spring frosts issued trees in & # 39; some farms in Nova Scotia of Canada, and fgarret a provision in the Northeast. Some Canadian farms in New Brunswick are buried under snow from recent storms, and make it difficult for them to get trees on trucks for shipment.
Failure & # 39; Fraser trees, the most popular on the East Coast, had some northern buyers & # 39; North Carolina to find BETTELLI Balsams in New England. In Oregon, some people are taking fir trees & # 39; Fraser from the East instead of noble firs are the most popular tree on the West Coast.
"The supply and demand always appear in & # 39; a stream," said Chali Landgren, a Christmas tree specialist and professor at Oregon State University, said by email.
First, the US consumers are expected to buy about 27 million trees, roughly the same as last year, according to the National Association of Christmas trees.
Many people find what they want, but the price may be slightly higher than the average price in the last year retail & # 39; about $ 75, said Tim O & # 39; Connor, the association director.
With a lean supply, buyers may want to start early if they much choice and variety.
Spencer Putman, a & # 39; Weybridge, Vermont, inkwetiex itself with the purchase. It just paid $ 5 for permission to reduce his own tree in the 400,000 acre Green Mountain National Forest. "I do not think Continuing & # 39; away from them very quickly", he said.
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The writers & # 39; the Associated Press David Sharp in & # 39; Portland, Maine, and Wilson Ring in Montpelier contributed to this report.
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