Flower buyers and sellers upbeat about the first Post Covid IFTEX

By Bob Koigi

Since 2019, the International Flower Trade Expo, IFTEX, hasn’t held a show due to the ravages of COVID-19.

As the industry recovers from a pandemic that has devastated economies, decimated livelihoods and shaken the world, industry players have been keen to adjust to the new way of doing business. But they have also had to con-tend with emerging issues which have taken a toll on their operations including climate change, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, freight costs, high cost of energy and inputs among other issues.

“Business post covid has been remarkable and the road to full recovery has been amazing for Tambuzi. Though, capacity constraints, war in Europe and re-emergence of covid cases in some parts of China has dulled the process, we will outlive these hiccups. Market diversification has been our main area of focus post Covid with a big interest in developing our local flower market which I can proudly say we have made serious inroads,” said Daniel Mwam-bia the Sales, Export and Packhouse Manager at Tambuzi Limited, a flower grower in Central Kenya.

Industry players have had to adjust their operations to tackle these threats even as export markets continue to adjust their demands to respond to the emerging issues.

Shmulik Ben Harush, Sales Manager&Tech Support East Africa at Danziger said: “The pandemic had some positive impact on the flower industry. At the beginning of COVID in Europe when lockdowns were announced, consumers could not travel so they had money to spend on other things like flowers which was a plus for the industry as de-mand was there. As COVID persisted demand dropped but it was still there. What really disrupted the industry was the Russia, Ukraine war. Freight prices increased dramatically especially during the prime flower selling seasons like Valentines. Aircrafts and containers were no longer available. People started buying back their stocks. Growers could not export to the Eastern Europe countries which has adversely affected the industry.”
Commenting on the new market trends he said: “Rose growers and summer flower growers used to send flowers individually. These days, customers especially in Europ and other markets want the final mixed bouquet made from the point of export for both direct markets and auctions. Since the Brexit in UK, they labour has reduced so they have been keen on cutting cost which explains why they have been insistent on bouquet packaging in pro-ducing countries.”

As breeders, growers, exporters and buyers come to terms with issues that are shaping the industry, they are op-timistic that IFTEX will herald new business opportunities and deliberate on solutions to keep the industry resilient. For Tambuzi, the expectations are to create new partnerships while looking at innovative ways of collaborating as an industry.

“Its been 3 years since we had the expo and we in Tambuzi see it as a chance of meeting both current and potential clients, growers and other players in the floral industry with the ultimate goal of enhancing growth. We have had a fair share of challenges affecting both growers and buyers such increased production costs, freight among others and this is year IFTEX will give us an opportunity to compare notes and forge a common path together as an industry,” said Daniel.

Shmulik on the other hand is optimistic that the show will open new avenues for growers and buyers to do more business while discussing new ways of insulating the industry from future shocks.
“We haven’t heard any exhibitions since 2019. As breeders, our expectations for the 2022 IFTEX are very high be-cause the expo will bring buyers from across the world. Even when COVID struck, we didn’t stop breeding and in-novating. We have new crops which we will exhibit and we hope Kenyan growers will like them even as we target more growers.

As a result of the emerging issues including the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and drought, growers were affected which saw them slow down on their investment. This is however changing as growers learn to adapt to the new order of business. We are getting new orders even beyond Kenya to countries like Uganda and Rwanda. We are optimistic that this trend will be maintained and even grow further,” he added.

Alive to the numerous challenges that the industry has had to contend with, the organizers of IFTEX are positioning this year’s show as not just about trading in flowers but an avenue that will allow discussions on the issues that have affected the industry and how the industry needs to move forward in order to survive.

“This exhibition will be about letting the world know where countries and the flower industry in general are stand-ing in the wake of the emerging issues. What has changed? How has the industry performed? It is also a chance for reconnecting on the floor by people and products in a new world with new threats and opportunities. The exhibition will therefore give new answers and guidance that growers and buyers should embrace,” noted Dick van Raamsdonk, the President of HPP International Group, the organizers of IFTEX.