Page 7 - LUA November December 2024 Issue for website
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t's that time of year when the third or 30 percent of their production
production of flowers in Kenya that cannot find an export.”
goes up. The high season starts in He pointed out that there is not
I October and goes up until May. enough air cargo capacity at the right rate
During these months, which will see as a reason for that. “There can always be
Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's capacity if you pay a very high premium,
Day, Mother’s Day, and International but then the flowers won't yield that
Women's Day, the newly cultivated amount on the markets in Europe. So you
flowers are exported, mostly through It's not a strange end up throwing flowers away,” he said.
the air, to markets in Europe, North thing to hear that van den Hoogen is based in Dubai
America, the Middle East, and Asia. the people are and coordinates flower exports from
However, 2024 is no ordinary year for partner farms in Kenya, Ethiopia, and
the country's farm owners and exporters dumping one-third Colombia to markets in Europe, the
due to the limited air cargo capacity or 30 percent of Middle East, North America and Asia.
available out of Nairobi. As a result, a their production Expanding on the capacity issues, van
significant amount of flowers meant for den Hoogen emphasised the need for
export end up in the compost heap. that cannot find both inbound and outbound cargo to
For instance, Willum van den an export. have a successful air freight route. “You
Hoogen, Managing Director of Florius need to have freight coming into and
Flowers, who called it a very unfortunate WILLUM VAN DEN HOOGEN going out of Africa. If the inbound is not
reality, said, “It's not a strange thing to FLORIUS FLOWERS there, you end up with freighters flying
hear that the people are dumping one- empty and at a meagre yield,” he added.
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2024 LUA 5
