Kenya flowers have contributed more than three-quarters of the total Valentine’s Day’s supplies in Australia this February. According to the country’s ABC network, of the 10.5 million cut roses that showed up February 13, 6.46 million were Kenya imports.

The figure illustrates a rise by 1.25 million stems in comparison with the similar postings in the love festive season of 2017.

The deal that Kenya Airways and Qantas Cargo signed in January, 2017 to directly ship flowers to Sydney from Nairobi may have contributed to the increment.

Meanwhile, Australia’s growers are commiserating the inability to compete with the tropical producers like Kenya. The East African nation is the largest  worldwide exporter to mainly Europe. Since last year, Kenya has sought to reinforce its position in new markets such as Australia.

Some of the reasons for the competitive nature of Kenya roses is that they come from a relaxed labor chain, where wages are low but supply and quality are high. This contrasts to Australia’s stringent labor laws and high wages, which do not enable farmers to compete with cheaper sources, including East Africa.

The flower body in Kenya, Kenya Flower Council (KFC), recorded the number of workers in flower farms to be 100,000 and this would be increasing in coming years. However, the site did not remark on the equally flourishing Ethiopia flower business that thrives in the same climate. Recently, some big farmers migrated to Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, touting it was ‘better’ than that of Kenya’s similar geological formation.

Similar pickings in Europe

Meanwhile, flower exporters in Kenya to the main European market are expecting lush pickings this Wednesday due to a stable Euro, which is the currency of choice in payments. In 2017, the value of the Euro fluctuated and did not favor the export sector. As of Tuesday, the exchange rate stood at 123 to 1 Kenya shilling.

The CEO of KFC, Ms Jane Ngigi confirmed on the in the lead up to the celebration that the flower volumes were also higher than those of 2017 due to recent rainfall patterns.

The CEO projected that Kenya would earn one-third of the $890 million (Ksh 70 billion) the country recorded from its flower exports last year this Valentine’s Day.

Locally, the flower reseller market has been improving due to a rise in the number of middle-class buyers. Ms Ngige said that she expects more Kenyans to purchase Valentine’s floral gifts in comparison with 2017 due to the fixture of the holiday on a weekday.

In short, given the good show in Australia early this week, Kenya flowers are likely to perform as good in traditional markets even as they improve their earnings locally.