Date: Thursday, December 1, 2011
Categories: Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, Kenya, ProVerde projects, Tanzania, Uganda
The World Bank, in cooperation with the Kenya Flower Council (KFC), organised a series of video conference-based seminars on topics pertaining to competitiveness in the floriculture industry. The 5th seminar, held on the 29th of November 2011, covered the issue of global competitiveness of floriculture production in the East Africa Region. Representatives from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda participated in the videoconference.
ProVerde was asked to prepare an issue paper on the competitiveness of the Kenyan flower industry and by extension the East African producer’s compared to other global producers and exporters. The paper provided an important contextual and experiential learning point for the other countries involved in the videoconference. Results from the study were presented and discussed during the conference. Read more »
Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Categories: Cut Flowers, Market research
Traditionally, most flowers heading for European markets enter the European Union via Amsterdam airport, located near the Dutch auctions. From mid-2009, however, many Dutch importers developed a preference for Belgian airports.
Importing fresh flowers through Belgium was, and still is, easier, due to the availability of night flights, handling benefits, lower costs, and smoother customs procedures and phytosanitary checks.
For as long as they last, the advantages are worth the effort (see figure).
Source: ProVerde
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Categories: Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, Market research, News
Already a top 5 EU flower supplier, Ethiopia steps up its market drive
Ten years ago, Ethiopian flower exports were virtually non-existent. Today, the country ranks among the European Union’s top 5 fresh-cut flower suppliers and floriculture has become one of the nation’s main foreign exchange earners. Economic woes in 2009 and the effects of the ash cloud in 2010 caused a minor shakeout, but about a hundred growers have emerged from these storms stronger and more eager than ever to consolidate and expand on their export position by stepping up their market drive, improving efficiency and diversifying product ranges.
As far as the flower industry is concerned, the worst of the economic recession seems to be over. Though prices may not climb back to pre-crisis levels, the 2009 slump seems to be a thing of the past, with EU imports steadily rising. Trade figures on the whole suggest the global flower market is rebounding and the mood in the market is one of cautious optimism.
Read more »
Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Categories: Cut Flowers, News, ProVerde projects, Uganda
With the assistance of Hortiwise, the Uganda Floricultural Association (UFA) is set to pilot the export of local flowers to European markets.
UFA is embarking on the task of getting potential buyers in the European market where in this very month of February, a commercial trial shipment will be conducted to obtain insights on the quality aspects as well as getting feedback from potential buyers in Europe.
Read more in the allAfrica.com article
Date: Friday, December 17, 2010
Categories: Chile, Cut Flowers, News
While Europe is checking her salt deposits and people are preparing for Christmas in the cold winter months, Chileans celebrate their holidays close to the beaches as summer is coming up now. But not before they have completed their harvest for the European market.
Besides the fact that the climate in Chile shows huge disparities within the country, spring season is a busy period for the companies that are active in the still modest floricultural export activities. South America always had the vertical trade routes burned into the mindset, but Europe has become an interesting export destination for flowers as well. Especially in the situation when the euro holds a better exchange rate to the local Peso (CLP) than the US dollar. Read more »
ProVerde is pleased to announce a new publication for the Trade for Development Centre:
“The European Market for Fair and Sustainable Flowers and Plants”
Given the importance of market transparency for producers aiming at selling their products overseas, the report provides relevant information for producers – within the trade context. The report makes an attempt to capture all relevant information on the European market for fair and sustainable flowers and plants – ranging from economic structure of this market to production characteristics, and major trends in consumer preferences and behaviour.
Above all, the report provides insight into the role of various social and environmental standards in the main European flower and plant markets and sales channels.
Read more »
Date: Friday, November 26, 2010
Categories: Cut Flowers, Ethiopia, India, News
Growing flowers and other agri commodities in East African nation of Ethiopia appears to be catching up with more and more Indian entrepreneurs. After Karuruti Global made headlines for getting control over hectares of land in the country for its agri business, there are others who are slowly building their presence like Neha International Ltd. Read more »
Following the success of the previous training activities and upon request of the Ethiopian flower sector, CBI organised four Master Classes as a key activity of CBI’s 2009 floricultural training programme in Ethiopia. The programme was developed in close cooperation with EHPEA and focused on different aspects of flower export marketing.
In the course of the Master Class training series, participants wrote a concise export marketing plan. The structure of the export marketing plan was used as the framework for the special topics covered in the training programme: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), post-harvest and logistical requirements, market research in the flower business, getting the best price on the auction, and internal and external communication and client orientation. Read more »
CBI’s Export Development Programmes (EDP) for cut flowers are designed to help entrepreneurs in selected African countries to adapt to EU market requirements in order to create conditions for market entry or market consolidation. ProVerde has been involved in many parts of the programme.
Each country programme combined different elements: technical assistance, training in export marketing and management and market entry assistance. In Egypt for example, the programme mainly focused on logistic cooperation and certification. In Kenya, CBI was of the opinion that there is enough knowledge available in the country itself to help to companies to develop their product quality, so instead the programme focused on developing export marketing (including a market tour to the Netherlands), HRM skills of the middle managers, and cooperation between the farms. In Uganda, improvement of product quality and farm management were the main issues, next to marketing training. Read more »
During a series of market tours organised by ProVerde for CBI, companies were invited for a one-week market tour in The Netherlands.
When having the desire to export to the EU, it is essential for exporters to understand how the market operates. Who is buying flowers and what does that buyer expect from it? What happens with price and market position if this expectation is not fulfilled?
The market tours generally consisted of a combination of company visits and supporting workshop trainings. Read more »