IKEA Belgium has reacted to critical statements from the president of the Ardennes Union of Tree Nurseries (UAP) on Saturday, who said that IKEA was saturating the market in Belgium with trees from outside of the country.
The Swedish furniture giant defended the quality of the Christmas trees it sells in Belgium, refuting the comments made by UAP's Jonathan Rigaux on Friday.
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“IKEA is polluting the market in Belgium and France and pushing prices down,” Rigaux said during an interview. “Only one of the UAP's 64 tree nurseries have supplied trees to IKEA, the rest come from the East where trees are produced in a totally industrial way,” Riguax claimed.
According to Rigaux, Belgium is the third biggest producer-exporter of Christmas trees in Europe after Germany and Denmark, who explained that around "85% of Belgian production is for export."
IKEA, however, had denied claims that the company is shipping in trees. “All the Christmas trees sold by IKEA Belgium come from a Belgian supplier,” a public relations official said in a press release. If prices are “low,” it’s because “IKEA has the means to buy in bulk,” the company said.
The Brussels Times
