CHRISTMAS TREE growers appear to have beaten the recession, with rising prices and demand reported in many parts of the country.
Prices of up to €70 a tree were being charged this weekend at many of the ad hoc Christmas tree sales depots springing up around the State.
However, with large variations in quality, consumers have been advised to shop carefully to ensure good value.
Kavanagh Christmas Trees, one of the main suppliers in south Dublin, said sales were up 10 per cent this year.
Its spokesman, Christy Kavanagh, said the firm was charging the same prices as last year, but added that other suppliers had increased their prices because of rising costs.
Mr Kavanagh said shoppers could expect to pay €10 per foot for "premium" Christmas trees, but as low as half this for lower-quality trees.
"Trees didn't go up in price that much during the boom but neither have they come down in the recession," he said. "There's nothing in it. The margins aren't there."
Wholesale prices of trees had increased, he said, as well as other costs such as transport and fertiliser.
Membership of the Irish Christmas Tree Growers Association has contracted from 120 to 40 in five years as operators left the business. Mr Kavanagh said there were fewer fly-by-night operators too, as a result of a clampdown by county councils and the Revenue Commissioners.
A spokesman for Coillte, which is no longer a major supplier to the wholesale Christmas tree market, said it operates limited outlets for the public for trees from 18 local depots across the State.
"This is very useful for local people and we only advertise locally. My understanding is that there has been no increase in the prices being charged from our depots this year compared with last year," he said.