The economic crisis in the western world strikes the Ethiopian flora export during the rosy romantic week of Valentine’s.
February, one of the peak seasons for the flower growers and exporters, often gets high returns in value generation. However, this year’s global narrative has not lived up to expectations. The result has had a ripple effect on the flower export in Ethiopia which has shown slight reduction. Nevertheless, the sector has continued to register more foreign currency with an annual growth rate.
According to the information Capital obtained from Ethiopian Horticulture Producer and Exporters Association (EHPEA), for the romantic day festivities Ethiopian flower growers exported 2,165.33 tons of the products to the global market with an estimated value of overUSD 3.2 million in the period spanning from February 1 to 13, 2023.
Yemisrach Berhanu, Promotion and Information Service Head at EHPEA, explained that the auction market in the first week of the month was relatively slow, but later gained traction in the second week, “This gained traction made the Ethiopian growers to export more product in the period.”
Yemisrach however noted that this year’s export in relation to Valentine’s Day was lower in contrast to the preceding year.
“This is not unique to our product alone but it has happened for all flora industry players worldwide,” she said.
The Promotion and Information Service Head explained that the inflation occurring in Europe, which is the major destination of Ethiopian flowers, was one of the reasons for the slowdown in the market.
Experts alluded that the economic downturn and price hike on the commodities led it to have a lower performance this season.
Valentine’s Day is very important for the country’s flower sector as its one of the holidays in which the flower industry flourishes and increases production from 35 percent to 40 percent. In February 2022 Ethiopia exported 2714.45 tons of flowers for the lovers’ day.
Despite being a late comer to the export basket, the horticulture sector has achieved spectacular successes. Even when the sector was severely affected by COVID 19, the Ethiopian export earnings from the horticulture industry, which takes on average 15 percent of thetotal export earnings, was massive.
In the first quarter of the 2022/23 budget year, the floriculture sector generated USD 167.3 million up from USD 122.6 million a year back.
“Export receipts from flower increased by 36.5 percent due to a 26.2 percent growth in export volume and 8.2 percent in international price,” reads the National Bank of Ethiopia quarterly report.
It added that as a result, the share of flower in total merchandise export increased to 17.1 percent from 12.6 percent a year ago.
In the 2021/22 budget year, the flower export climbed by 15.1 percent from the preceding year to generate USD 541.6million.