Violence continues to affect cut-flower production in Kenya, where as many as 3,000 workers have fled towns out of fear, according to Reuters.

Some wholesalers, including David Gaul, AAF, vice president of DWF, say fewer flowers from Kenya won’t have much, if any, of an effect on the U.S. market, but it could cause some challenges in the European market.

Kenya is the biggest exporter of cut flowers to the European Union, with a market share of about 32 percent, according to the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK). The U.S. imports a much smaller amount from Kenya, bringing in about $1.1 million in 2006, which only contributed 0.2 percent to the U.S.’s total market share, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“It’s not going to affect our market at all,” Gaul says.

Some speculate, however, that it will open up more opportunity for South American growers to export product to Europe.

Diego Chiriboga, general manager of Aribaflor, a flower broker and marketing company in Quito, Ecuador, says the effects were evident around Valentine’s Day.

“Some U.S. customers were complaining that there wasn’t enough product for them,” Chiriboga says. “It’s because Europe bought 10 times more than they usually do. Europe is already buying more product from South America because of the strong Euro, but even more this Valentine’s Day because of the short supply from Kenya.”

Chiriboga says he expects this trend to continue until things in Kenya settle.

Gonzalo Aristizabal of Cultivos Miramonte, a grower in Colombia, says Europe’s growing interest in South American product pre-dates the Kenya situation.

“More and more we’ve been seeing business interest in South America, in addition to what is happing in Kenya,” Aristizabal says.

Ethnic violence began back in December following the election of President Mwai Kibaki Kikuyu. When SAF first reported the aggressive breakouts, Kenyan officials said they were seeing some small effects but nothing serious. However, by the end of January the fighting had moved its way into the town of Naivahsa — home to a number of flower farms.

Reuters reported in February that nearly 3,000 people had left the farms due to the violence and many of those that remained behind were in a refugee camp and working longer hours than usual prior to Valentine’s Day.

“The workload for the remaining workers is too much,” Peter Otieno, branch secretary of Kenya’s Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union, told Reuters. “Some farms are more affected than others. Those that have workers living on company premises are better off.”

Keeping safety in mind, Hortec Kenya 2008, an international floriculture exhibition and conference, which was supposed to be held in March in Nairobi, Kenya, has been rescheduled to take place Nov. 5-8.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

Previous Article    Next Article