Some Irish homes may be without the traditional Christmas tree this year because of a huge demand.
Some major outlets including garden centres in Leinster ran out of trees last weekend according to An Bord Bia, which handles the commercial growers.
"Our understanding is that the demand was so great last weekend that supplies ran out," said a Bord Bia spokesman earlier this week.
Irish consumers, he said, may have lost out to continental European buyers who have been purchasing Irish-grown stock because of their quality.
"We believe that over 400,000 Irish trees were exported this year, mainly to France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK where there is a demand for top-quality product," he said.
"While it is not easy to estimate home demand, we believe that over the season, 750,000 trees are necessary to service the home demand," he said.
"We have a major advantage over our European rivals in growing good-quality trees, especially the Noble trees which are non-shed and are beautifully shaped," he said.
He said that the board estimated that the Christmas tree trade in Ireland was worth €5.7 million.
"It is a difficult enough crop because there is no return for seven to eight years and it really requires specialisation because trees must be shaped and grown properly," he said.
"It is not the kind of business that you can just rush into without any thought," the spokesman added.
He added that farmers seemed to be reluctant to get involved but those who did become involved and did it properly were well rewarded.
"This year good trees were costing between €45 and €60 on the home market and that is a fair return," he said.
He said the board believed that there was ample opportunity for an expansion in Christmas tree growing.
"There are a lot of artificial trees being purchased and the problem with this is that they last for a number of years and displace the real thing," he said.
"However, when people are presented with a properly grown Christmas tree, they are likely to buy it," he said.