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Ethiopia expects to earn $250 mil from flower export

By Dawit Taye

Reporter

The price of flowers, which until last month had been on the low, has as of the last two weeks shown a 30 percent increase, creating better opportunities for Ethiopian flower exporters.

According to Tsegaye Abebe, chairperson of the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association, for months, depending on the type of flowers, prices remained at .08 to .20 euros. In recent weeks, however, that has increased to .20 to .30 euros.

One of the reasons for the increase in price, according to Tsegaye, is attributed to the decline in flower exports by Kenya. Kenya is the leading flower exporting African country. Its flower production was affected by untimely rains of the past three weeks.

Kenya earns over 300 million USD annually from flower exports.

Upcoming holidays such as Valentines Day, Mothers Day, and Women's Day have also contributed to the increase in flower prices, according to Tsegaye, who says he expects prices to remain high in the coming months.

The cold and snowy weather which prevailed in most flower importing countries in the past months was a major factor for the decline in flower prices.

The Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association expects export volume to be as much as 250 million USD this budget year. Over 83 million USD has already been secured in the first six months of this budget year.