EU duty deal to come just in time for Valentine roses

The renewal of a duty-free regime between the European Union and five east African nations may not win approval until January, an EU official said, bringing it dangerously close to Valentine’s Day holiday, which is lucrative for Kenya’s flower growers.

The flowers sold in the two weeks leading up to February 14 account for about a third of annual sales for Kenya’s flower producers, some 90 per cent of them roses, according to the Fresh Producers Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK).