Inflation leads to increase in Christmas tree prices

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Many people spent the afternoon at Christmas tree farms picking out the perfect one, but also potentially paying more due to inflation.

“I kind of figured it would be because it seems like everything else is,” Karen Vondracek, of Linn County, said.

The group Real Christmas Tree Growers surveyed 55 wholesale growers of Christmas Trees. It found 71% of those raised their sale prices to retailers by 15%.

“We figured the cost of trees went up 15%,” Mark Banowetz, owner of Cedars Edge Evergreen Market, said. “We’ve tried to raise the cost of our trees just to cover the cost of inflation.”

Banowetz said the cost is passed down to him because of an increase in operations cost, labor, raw material, and shipping.

“When you’re talking about trucking going up 50%, that’s a big part of your profit,” Banowetz said. “It makes it hard to absorb that cost for many years.”

Banowetz said he was going to eat some of the cost rather than pass it on to his customers. Others, like Vondracek, said the price increase won’t stop them from building memories and continuing family traditions.

“We’re going to get a tree, a real tree, and we’re going to get it from someone we know regardless of the price,” Vondracek said.

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