Hope for flower exports as Europe eases restrictions

The demand for flowers in Europe has started picking up ahead of Mother’s Day next month, raising hope for a sector that has been battered by global restrictions on movement in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) says that in the past one week, the country had started witnessing a rise in demand from Europe where sales had declined by 35 percent over the past month.

With almost 1.9 million cases of coronavirus globally, and over 116,000 deaths, borders and businesses were shut and few people in European were thinking about flowers — putting at stake thousands of jobs in an industry that employs about 150,000 workers in Kenya.

However, a ray of hope has emerged as some European countries like Spain, Denmark, Italy and Austria have started to ease tough lockdown restrictions that had kept people confined in their homes for more than a month. The restrictions had applied the brakes on economic activities in those countries.

KFC now says that demand for export of floriculture, vegetables and fruits has increased to 3,500 tonnes in the past seven days with flowers accounting for the 60 percent of the orders. Air freight firms had cut capacity to 1,300 tonnes in line with export demand, which stood at 5,000 tonnes per week before the coronavirus outbreak.

But lack of flights for shipments of the flowers and the sharp rise in freight charges have been derailing export of horticulture produce to Europe.

“In the last one week we have started to see a slight steady recovery in the international market. Demand is beginning to grow, a sign that the flower industry could get back on track,” KFC chief executive Clement Tulezi said in a statement yesterday. “This improvement now poses a new challenge. The available freight capacity cannot accommodate the rise in the volume of demand”.

As a rule, demand for flowers goes up as Mother’s Day approaches, with freighters increasing the capacity to cater for the high demand.

Different countries celebrate Mother’s Day on separate days, but most countries in Europe observe it in the second week of May. However, this year, cost remains a major challenge.

“Airlines have increased their rates tremendously. They are currently charging more than double the initial cost from Nairobi to most market destinations. Exporters are unable to meet these exorbitant charges,” said Mr Tulezi.

Freight charges are rising on the back of a rise in demand. Most cargo airlines have reduced their flights following the outbreak of Coronavirus across the world. European leaders had from early March sealed off external borders for at least 30 days in response to the outbreak. Countries like Kenya also imposed restrictions on air travel although cargo carriers were allowed to fly. This has created a gap in cargo transport despite high volumes of freight needed for the European market where Kenya sells more than 80 percent of horticulture produce.

Operators have more than doubled the price per kilo of produce to between $4.5 and $7 a kilo from a range of $1.3 and $3.3 a kilo in January.

The air travel restrictions slashed daily orders by half, according to Mr Tulezi. And with reduced demand for flowers in Europe, retailers there started giving away the bouquets they were unable to sell.

The resulting decline in exports dealt a blow against Kenya given that flower exports are one of the top three foreign exchange earners for the country. The sub-sector generated Sh104 billion in sales in 2019.

The plunge in exports placed jobs are at risk, mostly for women who form the bulk of employees in the flower sub-sector. The Agriculture Employers Association last month wrote to the Central Organisation of Trade Union, stating its intention of declaring redundancies on workers in flower farms as the effects of Covid-19 resulted to cancellation of orders by overseas customers.

However, there was encouragement for Spain yesterday as the number of new cases fell to 3,477, the fewest since March 20. The daily death toll also dropped to 517 after jumping sharply to 619 on Sunday. Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the global coronavirus epidemic, yesterday started to ease tough lockdown restrictions, which promises to unlock markets in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Italy will allow bookshops, stationery shops and stores selling children’s clothes to reopen tomorrow in the first loosening of Europe’s longest lockdown.

In Denmark, schools and day-care centres will reopen tomorrow, allowing some parents to return to work. Austria is also opening some shops this week.