Moth orchid sales have slumped during the Lunar New Year holiday season in 2013 in Zhengzhou city, Henan province. Over 50 percent of the flower growers have suffered a deficit.

Moth orchid, or Phalaenopsis, which means butterfly-like orchid in Greek, is praised as the Queen of orchids. The price of mature moth orchids has decreased 30 percent year-on-year, with some selling without a profit before the Chinese New Year. Nearly two hundred thousand moth orchids have remained unsellable at present.

Flower growers had to prune and abandon substandard blooms to cultivate for next year.