Corona Daily 253: The Withering Flower Trade

Flowers are an essential component of human happiness. They please our visual and olfactory senses. They connect us, decorate us and our surroundings. None of us could fall in love or marry without flowers being a part of that journey.

The global cut flower industry is worth $18 billion and growing rapidly. The five bestselling varieties are rose, carnation, lilium, chrysanthemum and gerbera. In the UK and USA, flowers are bought in supermarkets, in the EU from florists. India sells fresh flowers and garlands on the streets and local markets.

The flowers you buy in London’s Covent garden could have come from the Netherlands, but they possibly grew in Kenya. Kenya, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Columbia are the world’s biggest growers and exporters. This has a fifty-year-old history. In the 1970s, the oil crisis prohibitively increased the cost of heating greenhouses. It made sense to move the flower production to sunny countries in the south. Kenya and Ethiopia became the supply centres for Europe, Ecuador and Columbia for the USA. The four countries had high altitudes with cool nights, ideal for flowers. They also had maximum sunlight and cheap labour. Instead of the seasonal production earlier, now it is 365 days a year. Every third rose in the European Union is imported from Kenya.

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When we talk of Tulip gardens, we think of the Netherlands. Netherlands runs a global auction trade for flowers. In an incredibly efficient operation, the Royal Flora Holland, the auction company, sells 20 million stems every day. This is the Wall Street of flowers. It trades in 22,000 different varieties.

In the beginning of March this year, tulip growers put their wares up for sale. Tulip season usually lasts for eight weeks. International women’s day 2020 escaped the coronavirus. However, on Friday 13 March, the Dutch auction collapsed. When the prices for roses and tulips hit zero, the auction house stopped trading. Weddings, parties, events, cruises were cancelled.

For the perishable commodity that flowers are, its supply is based on cold chain logistics (the term often heard for vaccines now). At a constant temperature, the flowers from a Kenyan farm must reach the London supermarket in 48 hours. The vase life is just 12-15 days at best. Flowers lose 15% value every day.

Demand for Kenyan flowers is so high, Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International airport has a dedicated flower terminal. Suddenly in the second week of March, the airport shut its doors. Flowers are Kenya’s second biggest export after tea. The Kenyan flower trade has grown ten times in the last thirty years. By May, 50,000 Kenyans lost their jobs. Livelihood of two million Kenyans was indirectly affected. It was called a humanitarian crisis. All roses and other flowers had to be composted.

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In the Netherlands, coronavirus crushed 400 million flowers including 140 million Dutch Tulips. Tulip growing is a long process. In July 2019, the farmers had dug up the bulbs, given them the right treatment and planted them in October 2019. Later they were moved to the greenhouse. The quality of tulips this year was excellent. March to May is the high season, with Easter holidays and Mother’s Day. The Dutch tulip industry sells an average of $30 million flowers daily. This year they had to destroy all tulips.

Keukenhof, the largest flower park in Netherlands, usually welcomes 1.5 million visitors during the tulip season. The park had to be shut throughout.

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Since May, things have improved a little. The Kenyan flower council fought for starting the flights again. The Dutch auction has reopened but still shut for visitors. In some places, business has recovered about 70%, but in value terms still down in the absence of lavish weddings, parties and other events. All flower traders are worried about the impact of the latest wave.

As to how the Kenyan flower growers survived, I will write tomorrow.

Ravi