By Antony Gitonga
Business News
According to the council, the sector has incurred heavy losses due to
ongoing lockdowns in key European markets and the collapse of the Dutch
Auction.
The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) projects that it will take a year for the
floriculture sector to recover
following financial losses due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
According to the council, the sector has incurred heavy losses due to
ongoing lockdowns in key European markets and the collapse of the Dutch
Auction.
This came amid reports that flower exports had risen from 20 per cent in
April to 65 per cent this month as some of the countries adversely
affected by the pandemic started reopening.
KFC Chief Executive Clement Tulezi said the sector had started to
recover despite emerging challenges like lack of flights and high flight
charges.
Mr Tulezi said they expected exports to rise by 80 per cent by the end
of this year as various EU countries continue to relax their lockdown
regulations.
“The floriculture was adversely affected by the pandemic, and we
estimate that shall fully recover by June 2021 if the government fully
supports us,” he said.
On availability of flights, the CEO admitted that it remains one of the
major challenges for flower exporters and called urged the government to
provide cargo planes. “Currently our weekly demand is 2,800 tonnes per
week, but we can only export 1,000 tonnes due to lack of flights and the
high charges,” he said.
Tulezi at the same time hit out at the State for what the said was the
politicisation of VAT refunds at a time when flower farmers are
grappling with ways of raising funds to resuscitate their businesses. He
said the farmers, who are owed Sh4.2 billion, are yet to get a penny of
the money two months since President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that Sh10
billion had been set aside for tax refunds.
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