It wouldn’t be Christmas without a few curveballs, and the potential shortage of Christmas trees would definitely count as one. With the new processes brought in through Brexit, growers this year have warned of Christmas tree shortages. 

It’s estimated that Britain goes through a massive 8 to 10 million trees every Christmas time. The British Christmas Tree Growing Association (BCTGA) places about 1 to 3 million of these coming from Europe each year. 

Unfortunately at the moment, the country is experiencing a few issues around importing, with the shortage of HGV drivers likely to cause delays in shipping Christmas trees from Europe to the UK. Along with the driver shortage, the increased amount of paperwork needed to import a tree is making it harder, with higher prices likely and suppliers discouraged from exporting.

A Great Time to Buy British

The best advice the BCTGA is giving this year is to buy British to avoid any delays and price rises. The UK has a large domestic supply, estimated to be 4.4 million as of 2018, and is well suited to grow Christmas trees, meaning each year a good supply is available right on our doorstep.

2021 has especially been a good year for Christmas tree growing, with a representative of BCTGA stating it as a “marvellous” year. 

This is great news for all of us looking to get a christmas tree into the house, as a large local supply will help avoid any shortages or delays.

Primrose’s Christmas trees grow in Scotland all the way down to Devon so we have supply across the country, perfectly positioned to help you get that Christmas tree in time, and guaranteed delivery to your door is something not even Father Christmas would sniff at. 

Christmas Tree Savings

A real British-grown tree is also a great way to dodge any price increase that might crop up. There have been some warnings of a 10-20% price increase, coming from increased labour and transport costs.

Whereas, because of our British-grown christmas trees, Primrose is happy to say it’s not expecting any price increases on our trees from any import issues. 

Finally, real Christmas trees are way lower on carbon emissions compared to a plastic Christmas Tree, which is a great step to making your Christmas a bit more environmentally friendly.

A real christmas tree is completely natural and biodegradable, so no leftover waste once you’re done with it, plus cutting out the transport getting it from the EU will help reduce the amount of emissions too. 

So, to avoid any extra costs or delays, a British Christmas tree is the way to go, especially since that extra saving goes towards more presents for you and maybe an extra cookie for Santa, if you’re feeling generous. 

Christmas Sorted

There are always so many options when it comes to picking your christmas tree. Do you go for a Blue Spruce, a Nordmann Fir, or a Norway Spruce? And what size? 

Hopefully, this article gives you the best way to dodge any potential shortage this year, which is one less thing to worry about, with a real British Christmas Tree you’ll have a tree up in time for Christmas faster than you can say ‘Rudolph’.

If you are ever stuck on which Christmas  Tree to choose, check out our blog here and we’ll help you decide!

To really make Christmas easy, why not check out our Christmas store? We have a wide range of Christmas lighting and decorations, and even some Christmas present ideas too. Who doesn’t love being able to get the Christmas shop done in one go!

Image credit to:

Image 1 – by Sean Foster on Unsplash

Image 3- by Lynda Hinton on Unsplash