Extreme winter conditions in Europe — the worst in five years — are causing jitters within the Kenya’s horticulture industry because of a significant cut in outdoor activities that has stymied orders for exports for the high season that runs between February and May.
While December falls within the cyclic winter season in Europe, flowers, fruits and vegetable exporters say cold temperatures have hit the purchase of flowers and hindered transportation of fresh produce from the main airports to the hinterland, mostly served by trains and trucks.
Various reports appearing on the international press indicate that snowstorms and subfreezing temperatures have persisted across Europe in the last two weeks, leaving a trail of destruction to property and life and forcing potential buyers to stay indoors.
In some instances, authorities have issued airlines with orders to cut the number of flights per day, sending shock waves among Kenyan growers who rely heavily on aviation as the mode of transport to get fresh produce to Europe on time.
There have also been reports of transport authorities in some EU countries ordering trains to stop plying certain channels in Europe, raising fears of possible delay of Kenyan vegetables and fruits to get to the final consumers.
“This December has been a very difficult period. Most of us have been forced to halt flower deliveries to Europe until the weather improves because at the moment there is literally nobody to transport flowers to the other end,” Mrs Rose Wahome, a director at the Nairobi-based Mosi Branan Flowers told Business Daily.
While flower farmers may still have peak sales of Valentine Day and Mothers Day – the two occasions that account for 30 per cent of export sales — to reverse their falling fortunes, fruits and vegetable exporters count every single day — between September and March next year – that their produce does not get to the market as constituting significant loss.
The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) says the winter season is usually the industry’s peak season accounting for 65 per cent of all the fruits and vegetables exported to Europe
“This period is normally the most important time in the industry’s calendar when our exporters are able to establish long term sales contracts.
The cold weather in Europe ensures there are no domestic supplies of fruits and vegetables from Europe to compete with our produce,” said the FPEAK Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stephen Mbithi.
At some point just before the Christmas day, the weather shock almost spilled into the country, triggering a wave of panic through the industry as word went round that Kenya Airways would not fly a cargo plane carrying 1,000 tonnes of fresh produce to Europe after an airport black out blamed on poor weather.
The plane later took off after a speedy assurance by the airport authority that all was under control.
At farm level, bad weather in Europe comes at a particularly inopportune time just when the blooms were blossoming following the return of rains in mid November after a prolonged dry spell dating back to 2007. “We just started experiencing good exports of fruits and vegetables to Europe from mid last month as farms started receiving good (El Nino) rains and most economies of Europe also started showing signs of recovery,” said Dr Mbithi.
Figures released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday indicate that export of cut flowers, vegetables, and fruits – Kenya’s leading horticultural exports - decreased to 18,500, 17,000 and 5,000 tonnes in the third quarter of 2009 compared to 19,300, 19,600 and 5,200 tonnes respectively during the same quarter of 2008.
But flower farmers see extreme European weather as a double tragedy, coming at a time when most offices which usually buy blooms on a daily basis locally for decorative purposes are also closed for December holidays.
Generally, industry players expect this year’s performance to be better than last year when depressed demand in Europe caused the first drop in an industry that has steadily been growing at a robust annual rate of 20 per cent since late 1990s.
Government statistics indicate that horticulture production dropped by 13 per cent to Sh57.9 billion in 2008 from Sh67.2 billion the previous year.
“A clear outlook for this industry in 2010 and strategies to make the year better can only be discerned after next month once this winter season is over,” said Mrs Wahome
Earlier, the industry players had hinged their hopes on the festive season’s wave to prop up sales volumes that have plummeted in the last two years due to the global economic slump.
“The demand for flowers is seasonal and we are certain that things are going to look differently after this peak season that runs from November this year to May next year,” Mrs Jane Ngige, the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) CEO said in an earlier interview.
This bet now appears to have suffered a temporary setback at the moment as bad weather engulfs most parts of Europe. In Poland, the gateway for Kenyan flowers into Europe for instance, 29 people froze to death just days before Christmas, sending shockwaves across the country that has convinced consumers to stay indoors until the weather improves.
Industry data indicates that Holland, through the Dutch auctions, absorbs up to 69 per cent of flower exported by Kenyan growers.
Two thirds of these go into the Netherlands, which still dominates trade in cut flowers worldwide through its auction halls from where wholesalers buy flowers for re-export to markets as far away as the US, which also undergoing a numbing winter experience.
Despite many years of campaign to diversify market to other continents, Europe remains Kenya’s main export destination, absorbing close to 80 per cent of annual exports.
KFC data shows that the EU market remains the main lifeline of Kenya’s blooms, accounting for 31 per cent of their imports and 25 per cent of the European market share.
From 1990s, the country has dominated the British flower market with huge retail outlets like Marks & Spencer, Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stocking Kenyan cut flowers for decades now.
Currently however, exporters maintain that the poor weather conditions that have condemned many people to remain indoors have seriously reduced the number of ‘occasional buyers’ who are demanding flowers for activities such as weddings, funerals and other outdoor decorations.
“Bad weather, just like last year’s depressed demand has significantly cut down the number of customers who are demanding flowers to celebrate certain occasions. We expect 2010 to be the year of recovery for the industry,” said Dr Mbithi.
