Due to a deliberate drop in production, the price of Christmas trees is expected to jump this year by as much as 15%, the Italian Confederation of Farmers (Cia) reported on Tuesday.
Production has fallen sharply not only in northern Europe but also in Italy, Cia added. Domestic trees fill less that half the national demand.
According to Cia, producers decided to plant fewer trees after the production boom of the 1990s sent prices tumbling across the continent.
This year an average Christmas tree will cost between 20 and 45 euros but the price will climb when the tree gets over two meters high, Cia said.
The policy of planting fewer trees, Cia observed, will mean that prices will continue to rise in the coming years, given that it takes between six to seven years to grow an average-sized Christmas tree.
An estimated six million real trees are expected to be decorated in Italian homes this year, indicating that Italian by far prefer them to artificial ones, Cia said.
Aside from buying trees, Cia recalled that in some places in Italy consumers can also 'rent' trees, which will then be returned to their natural habitat after the holiday season.
Although decorating a tree is not an Italian but apparently German tradition, it became increasingly popular in Italy since in the 1950s.
Italians traditionally set up a Nativity scene for Christmas.
Denmark is Europe's biggest Christmas tree producer, with about 10 million trees exported annually to Europe, followed by Germany, France and Austria.
