Kenya's flower industry confronts global slump

By Duncan Miriri

NAIVASHA, Kenya, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Farm worker Daniel Apinde pushes a cart laden with long-stemmed red roses through Oserian farm, a 240 acre (97 hectares) business nestling on the shores of Kenya's Lake Naivasha.

The run up to St Valentine's Day, the most important sales day in the cut flower calendar, has been fairly busy as usual but concerns that the global economic crisis will hit the flower industry niggle at the back of his mind.

"Many are fearful about the future because the way things are headed, many might suffer," he told Reuters.

Hamish Ker, production director at the farm, hopes the crisis will have a silver lining for Kenyan flowers that have a reputation for quality.

"It is going to be a challenging period but with those challenges come opportunities," he said.

The depreciation of the pound sterling in the second half of 2008 cut export earnings to the British market, Ker said. Demand there absorbs 25 percent of Kenya's flowers.

"Demand in the UK has dropped drastically though in countries like France, Germany, Norway and Austria, we have not seen any changes,' said Richard Hechle, general manager at Panda Flowers, a farm that employs 850 people.

His comments found an echo in central London, where Sylvia Martin, a shop assistant at the Blackfriars Flowers shop, said: "Business is flat. But then it's not Valentine's Day until tomorrow. So that might have something to do with it.