Flower sales drop again after months of recovery

Flower sales have slumped again, two months after recovering from a sharp reduction in earnings resulting from Covid-19 disruptions. 

The slump was more visible in the two months of September and October compared to the months after June when the lockdown was lifted. 

Data from Bank of Uganda indicates that the flower industry, had recovered after June to export $4.2m (Shs15.4b) peaking at $6m, after a poor performance at the beginning of the year due to Covid-19 global disruptions.  

However, in August earrings had started to plummet and have since dropped to $4.16m in October, according to latest data from Bank of Uganda. 

However, during the same whereas the industry has experienced a fall in value, volumes have been increasing to 614 tonnes in October from 608 tons in September. 

The trend explains a fall in prices, given low demand across major markets in Europe and the Americas. 
Ms Anne Mbuthia, an administrator at Aurum Roses, a flower exporting company, at the weekend told Daily Monitor, the industry, in addition to shrink in demand induced by the global lockdown affecting their main market in Europe, Ugandan flowers had earlier been flagged by international markets for fear of pests.

“This year we have had a negative impact to the flower industry due to Covid-19 and pest interception in Holland. Some pests are quarantined in Uganda.  As an industry, we have had so many interceptions in Europe where we got warnings and for about a week, as a company, we could not export flowers so they all had to be destroyed,” she said.

A look at the product’s export history, however, indicates a trend of reduced flower sales towards the end of the year and a peak during the beginning of the year, where Valentine’s Day also falls. 

Market challenge
Even then, the future of the industry remains uncertain as lockdown measures persist until next year in some countries, especially in Europe, which is Uganda’s biggest flower export market. 

However, some exporters are searching for alternative markets. 
Aurum Roses, which is one of the biggest flower exporters, according to Mbuthia annually export 20 million stems out of which 30 per cent are sold as Fairtrade.  

“Next year, we have a contract where we are going to sell 50 per cent of the stems as Fairtrade meaning we are going to get a premium,” she said.   
Fairtrade is a global movement, which addresses the injustices of conventional trade by supporting smallholder farmers and workers to secure better terms of trade.

Currently, the organization’s African forum represents over 1,050,000 producers across 33 countries. 
The organization also seeks to eliminate market challenges by linking buyers and producers of different value chain commodities to transact at a price higher than the average market price.

Spared 
According to Mr Tonny Kibirige, the Fairtrade Africa-Eastern and Central Africa Network business support officer, while Covid-19 has affected some value chains, others have been spared.

“Coffee was minimally affected because of logistical challenges, vanilla and tea. Tea was severely affected because it is sold through Mombasa and the auctions could not take place because of covid-19 but now things are slowly going back to normal,” he said. 

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