Kenyan Flower Growers Need Freighters for Valentine’s Day
Bloomberg 2/2/2021 David Herbling
(Bloomberg) Reduced airfreight capacity and lockdowns in key European markets threaten to hurt Kenyan flower sales for Valentine’s Day.
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Kenya’s flower producers are receiving orders for Feb. 14, but freight capacity is “our biggest worry,” Clement Tulezi, chief executive of the Kenya Flower Council, said on Monday. Freight demand typically doubles to 5,500 tons in the week before Valentine’s Day, requiring an additional weekly shipping capacity of 3,000 tons, he said.
The East African nation exports about 70% of its flowers via Amsterdam, and restrictions in the Netherlands and other key export markets, such as the U.K., are likely to hinder sales. Kenya has allowed Ethiopian Airlines to deploy additional freighters on the Nairobi-Amsterdam route to ease capacity constraints, according to Tulezi.