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Delegates arriving in Honolulu for APEC this week will be given flower lei — a gift synonymous with Hawaii.

But while the lei may be emblematic of the Aloha State, it’s also a prime example of the complex economics of trade — the very essence of what APEC is about.

Tuberose flowers grown locally in Waimanalo are strung into garlands alongside orchids from Thailand. Maile leaves are shipped across the Pacific from the Cook Islands, while local farmers grow pikake flowers too fragile for long-distance transport.

In fact, flower markets are so interconnected that weeks of has left local lei sellers in the lurch.

“I’m waiting for another shipment to come in,” said Ayako Yamada, the owner of A&K Nursery — which is providing at least 5,500 lei for diplomats, CEOs and their staff visiting Honolulu. While the tuberose on those lei are grown on Oahu, the orchids are coming from Thailand.

This week, about 20,000 delegates from APEC’s 21 member economies meet in Honolulu to promote open trade and cooperation among nations.

And what has happened to the Pacific flower industry is in keeping with APEC’s , which includes “championing free and open trade and investment, (and) promoting and accelerating regional economic integration.”

Indeed, major lei vendors in Hawaii say they get the majority of their flowers from overseas.

“I can tell you for our company, probably three-fourths to 80 percent of the leis that we sell come from out of the country,” said Russell Watanabe, the president of Watanabe Floral, a major flower seller in Hawaii. Watanabe is providing locally made floral centerpieces for Hawaii Host Committee events this week.

One popular import are dendrobium orchids, which come from Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, according to a July by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Foreign flowers are flooding the markets because growers in places such as Thailand can turn out quality orchids at lower cost than Hawaii farms can, big lei sellers in Honolulu said. Importing flowers allows vendors in Hawaii to meet demand while minimizing cost, the vendors said.

It’s not that lei sellers don’t want to support local growers, Watanabe said. He said his company was a kamaaina grower from 1946 to 2008.

“We try to support local businesses and American businesses as much as we can,” Watanabe said.

But for large orders, “We’ve got to go overseas,” he said. “That’s what our competitors would do as well.”

That’s the same story told by another Honolulu lei maker.

Karen Lee, manager of Cindy’s Lei Shoppe in Chinatown said she looks to Thai suppliers to help her fill orders when demand for lei spikes — around Valentine’s Day and graduation.

It’s the same story heard across other industries, Watanabe said. The cost of living — and the cost of labor — is higher in the U.S. than in countries such as Thailand, he said. That allows Thai suppliers to undercut local prices.

In Hawaii, the local flower growing market has taken hits in recent years as the economy faltered. Hawaii farm sales of dendrobium orchid blooms have dropped from 14.9 million blooms in 2006 to 6.7 million in 2010, according to the July USDA study.

Economist Paul Brewbaker told Civil Beat that Hawaii’s lei stands shouldn’t be trying to sell only local flowers — even though selling imports might seem like an affront to Hawaii tradition.

“The impulse is to say that it’s somehow regrettable — it’s ironic that we give non-Hawaii flowers as a tradition of greeting,” he said.

But Brewbaker said imported flowers allow lei stands to sell more lei at a lower price. That’s good for consumers and improves lei sellers’ bottom lines, he said.

A&K Nursery in Waimanalo is providing 5,500 floral lei for APEC visitors. The APEC Hawaii Host Committee is handing them out at the airport and at receptions throughout the week, Yamada said.

For Yamada, importing orchids meant choosing low cost over fragrance.

“Thai orchids don’t have the smell,” she said. But she said her tuberose were different. “We’ve got the good Hawaiian scent. That’s the smell of aloha.”