Flower exporters struggle to regain market

The flower industry, once Uganda’s promising export revenue earner ranked fifth, is struggling to get back to its glory.
The latest information from the industry shows that the sector has not seen a five per cent increase in volumes exported to the respective markets.
“This year has been a better year in terms of volume compared to other years because we have seen an increase of about five per cent in all the products we export,” Ms Juliet Musoke, the executive director at Uganda Flowers Exporters Association (Ufea), said.

Despite being hit by inflationary pressure that reached 30.4 per cent in October 2011 although it has since dropped to 4.5 per cent, the industrial players don’t seem to feel the change.

Experts further say, Europe being the leading exporting market with its currency turbulences (Eurozone Crisis) has also seen Uganda’s flower exports suffer as buyers’ cut-down on their spending.

The slight increase
Ms Musoke said: “Uganda realisation of a slight increase in volumes exported was largely because our flowers have a niche market.”
She said the Sweet Heart Roses and the Chrysanthemum (cuttings), pot plants have had a niche market because their prices are relatively affordable.
“This is why they have been preferred over the expensive ones during the Euro-zone crisis,” Ms Musoke noted.

The other reason for Uganda’s improvement is the cold weather that hit Kenya and Ethiopia, her biggest competitors in the region.
The bad weather in Ethiopia saw the late cutting of flowers, affecting exports to the European market for Valentine’s Day. Consequently, the country failed to reach an expected 30 per cent increase in exports, as the bad weather delayed flower cutting by up to 15 days.

Industrial players said this gave Uganda an edge to exploit the market and some sales were realised. So far, Uganda has exported 5,760 tonnes of flowers but Ms Musoke said they are yet to compute the value of these exports. Prices of flowers in Europe have risen significantly, with some flowers fetching 0.60 euro, up from 0.25 euro.
According to Uganda Export Promotion Board statistics, last year, Uganda exported 2011 5,765 tonnes worth $30.6 million, the previous year 2010, the country exported 3.472 tonnes worth $22.4 million.

Pending challenges
Mr Musoke said in order to see change in the industry, government ought to give them subsidies like most of their competitors get, for instance those in Ethiopia. Air freight charges are still very costly for the players and the industry needs incentives to expand.

“Few farms have expanded and current projections are between two to five additional hectares from Jambo Roses and Rosebud,” Ms Musoke said.
UFEA is still struggling with the Fresh Handling Limited (FHL) which is servicing the Ugandan fresh produce export industry by renting a Cold Store from Das Handling Limited. It has been seeking the transfer of ownership of the Cold Store from Entebbe Cold Stores Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the CAA, since 2002.

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