Depressed Kenya flower sector taps into US, Russia and Japanese markets

NAIROBI: Kenya floriculture sub-sector is courting the United States, Russian, Korean and Japanese markets as it seeks to expand from traditional European Union (EU) market.

Already, delegates of leading international wholesalers and retailers from more than half a dozen countries outside the EU market are in the country attending the third edition of the International Flower Trade exhibition (IFTE). 

“It is true we have been diversifying to other markets in addition to maintaining our traditional EU market. Buyers from these new markets are already in the country to acquaint themselves with our flowers as well as making deals with the farmers,” said Jane Ngige Kenya Flower Council (KFC) chief executive officer.

Recently, Kenya has been hit by travel advisories from USA, United Kingdom, France among other countries, which has seen the tourism sector suffer.

MAINTAIN QUALITY

Some of the international buyers interested in Kenyan flowers are Bloomquest and Amerilink International from the USA. Amerilink is currently buying flowers from farms in Mauritius, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Thailand. Other global players include 7FLOWERS-Decor and Novaglora from Russia, and Classic Japan Limited from Japan.

Flower Auction Japan Inc, Hibiya Trading Company, and Create Company are some of other Japanese companies importing Kenyan flowers.

Managing Director of Amerilink International Company Andre Savrimoutou, said his company is interested in importing flowers from Kenya as well as developing growth programmes with local farmers. 

The shift from the EU has been aided by factors such as emergence of new flower centres such as in Dubai, Tel Aviv, and Kumming in China opening new gateways to Asian producers.

James Onsando, the CEO of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) called on farmers to maintain quality with the view to ensuring they attract more buyers. Kenya is further planning to grow its market share by targeting economies such as Nigeria. Kenya Airways has started direct flights to Abuja, though it has been operating flights to Lagos.

HIGH TARIFFS

Kenya currently, gets more than 35 per cent of all flower sales from the European Union. The main European Union markets for Kenyan flowers are Holland, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Switzerland.

Earlier this year, Ngige said that out of the 65 per cent of flowers sold to Europe from Kenya, 40 per cent are sold through the Netherlands Auction, while 25 per cent is sold directly to the dealers.

United Kingdom as a single market, receives 25 per cent of Kenya’s cut flowers while ten per cent is sold to other markets such as Japan, France, US, and Germany.

“We started in small scales, a few years ago, to export to the USA, Russia, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.  Surprisingly, these markets have been growing steadily and we hope buyers will increase orders in the near future,” she added. 

The diversification will likely shield local farmers against high tariffs likely to be imposed to exports to the EU market if the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) Agreement between EU and African Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) are not signed by October 1.