Two factors, one related to the purchaser and the other to the product, underpin this increasingly happy seasonal story. The first is the nature of the Christmas tree market, and the determination, come what may, of loyal British consumers not to cutback on their traditional Christmas tree purchase. As the BCTGA (British Christmas Tree Growers Association) has told Forestry Journal on a number of occasions: "Even in tough economic times British householders who buy a real live Christmas tree consider this particular purchase as the one they will definitely not give up." BCTGA secretary Roger Hay doesn't foresee substantial cutbacks at Christmas and especially on Christmas trees, recalling the experience of previous recessions in the 1980s and! 990s, and most recently 2008 and 2009 when tree sales rose five per cent and two per cent respectively, accompanied by price rises.
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