Valentine’s Day arrived with the usual boost in flower sales, both locally and in the export market, requiring Ethiopian Airlines to give the exporters two additional cargo flights a week for the past two weeks.
For the local sellers, the boost could amount to as much as a month’s sale in ordinary days. Biniam Takele, in business for the past two years, normally sells 150 stems a day from his shop located around the Ambassador Theatre area on Ras Desta Damtew Street.
The week before Valentine’s, his daily sale started averaging at 4,000 stems. Others, such as Melese Geleta, who has a shop near Bole Brass, and Kassu Kokebe, a little way off around Bole Medhanialem, have a daily average of 5,000 pieces, up from 500 and 200 pieces, respectively.
A single stem costs these people 1.5 Br at normal days, going up to 3.5 Br. Their usual selling price, after they have decorated it, is three to four Birr. As Valentine’s Day approached, it increased to six to 10 Br. On Valentine ’s Day prices were up to 20 Br in some places, although the cost of the decorations used, such as sprays and ribbons, somewhat reduces the profit they make.
The biggest business was, however, for the flower growers that are involved in the export market.
According to the report of the Ministry of Trade (MoT), Ethiopia exported nearly 1.76 billion stems of flowers in 2011/12 and 2.25 billion stems in 2012/13; despite the growth in export, however, its revenue was down from 197 million dollars to 187 million dollar.
Part of this picture is painted by ET Highland, which grows flowers on 20ha of land in Sebeta in the Oromia Region, 26km from Addis Abeba. An average day sees this company, owned by Tsegaye Abebe, former chairman of the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers & Exporters Association (EHPEA), exporting 60,000 to 70,000 stems. The approach of Valentine’s Day sees this doubling to 120,000 and 130,000.
ET Highland, established in 2004, employs 440 people. For last year’s Valentine, it exported around 1.1 million sticks from end of January to the middle of February.
This year the price of a stem in Holland, the destination for Ethiopia’s exports, has increased from 0.14 euro to 0.30 euro. The months between January and May represent opportune moment for flower producers as Europe, Ethiopia’s main destination for flower exports, celebrates occasions like the Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, Women’s Day and Fathers’ Day.
“Both demand and supply increase during these occasions,” says Tsegaye, one of the pioneering individuals in the industry.
His Company has started preparations to increase the volume of production and meet the challenges posed by the demanding season.
“But it is quality that matters,” says Zelalem Messele, the owner of ZK Flowers Plc. “It is quality that helps us to plough our way through the big holiday season of Valentine.”
Established in 2007 on 10 ha of land around Bishoftu (Debrezeit), in East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, 47 km from Addis Abeba, ZK Flowers employs a total of 320 people. The farm, which expects four times a week, sees an increase of 33 to 67pc increase during peak. But some in the business are not following the market change. Lafto Roses Plc keeps its export level throughout the year, despite the peak in demand it sees between March and May.
“Our production is the same year to year and between months,” says Tegegn Girum, project manager of the company.
The Ethiopian Horticulture Producers & Exporters Association (EHPEA), established in 2002 comprising vegetables, fruits and flowers growers, has been in talks with Ethiopian Airlines to improve cargo service during the peak period, according to Tewodros Zewde, executive director of the association. This has been conducted through the advisory board set up with the membership of the association, the Horticulture Development Agency and Ethiopian Airlines, he said. The talks had taken place to find a solution that would be convenient for both the airline and the exporters, said Alemu Woldegerima, director general of the agency.
Out of 120 foreign and local flower companies operating in Ethiopia, 96 are members of the Association. Seventy-three out of the 120 investors invested through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), while 11 are joint ventures and 36 are local companies.
Ethiopian could add the number of flights whenever the need arises, says Fitsum Abadi, the cargo vice president at Ethiopia.
“There used to be 13 flights every week before the peak season,” says Fitsum. “Two more flights have been added in the last two weeks.”
The capacity of one cargo aircraft is from 80tns to 95tns, which could amount to a maximum of 2.85 million sticks. Ethiopian charges the exporters a transport rate of 1.75 dollars for a 12kg box.
Despite its late entry into the Ethiopian economy, the flower industry is an example of a quick transition into a successful non-traditional export product. Ethiopia is now the second largest exporter in Africa, next to Kenya, overtaking Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It is also the fifth largest non-EU exporter supplying the EU cut flower market.
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