“It’s been a hard year, but we’re in an industry that requires a lot of resilience"

Mount Kenya Sprouts is navigating a challenging market characterized by rising production costs, strong competition from South America and ongoing logistical disruptions. At the same time, the Kenyan grower continues to invest in quality improvements and water security while seeing opportunities in markets such as the Middle East and Russia. According to Muthoni Wachira, resilience and continuous improvement remain key to staying competitive in the summer flower market.

Competing with South America
Competition from South America is one of the realities the company faces, particularly for crops such as gypsophila. According to Muthoni, customers increasingly compare Kenyan flowers with products from Ecuador and Colombia. “There is quite a bit of competition from South America,” Muthoni says. “Some of my customers tell me to make sure that I can match the quality of products from Ecuador or Colombia, especially with gypsophila. They are able to produce very heavy, very open and very bright flowers. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge, and we strive to reach that level of quality.”

While quality is an important benchmark, Kenya retains an advantage in pricing. “Freight is cheaper out of Kenya to Europe than from the USA to Europe.”

Investing in production
To remain competitive, production efficiency has become increasingly important. One of the biggest production challenges has been water availability. “We have been very strategic and invested in good water harvesting systems. I think we will be strong during the very dry seasons that we’ve experienced in the past.”

Around 90% of Mount Kenya Sprouts’ flowers are grown outdoors, while the remaining production is under tunnels. Pest pressure has been relatively limited. “When you’re growing summer flowers, pests are not the biggest issue. Water has been the main challenge, but I think we are getting there.”

Costs continue to rise
Besides production challenges, increasing input costs are putting additional pressure on growers. Over the past four years, virtually every cost category has risen. “We have seen a huge increase in our inputs,” Muthoni says. “Chemicals, fertilizers, energy, packaging materials, freight; everything has become much more expensive. The cost of diesel and fertilizers has gone up by almost 40%, but we operate in a buyers’ market. Buyers have a wide choice from the ever-increasing number of growers, meaning supply exceeds demand, hence increasing competition.”

The company has relied on solar energy since the start of production, helping to reduce part of the impact of higher energy costs. However, as production has expanded, additional energy sources have become necessary. “As our production increases, we continue to invest in more solar energy production to support our operations,” she says.

Despite the difficult circumstances, Muthoni remains optimistic. “It’s been a hard year, but with the resilience Mount Kenya Sprouts has built in its business and always doing our best, we will remain competitive despite the challenges.”

Export markets continue to shift
Alongside rising costs, changing market dynamics are creating new opportunities as well as new challenges. “For us, we’re seeing growth in the Middle East market and in the Russian market,” Muthoni explains. At the same time, she notes that some Middle Eastern buyers have started exploring flowers from China. This poses a huge challenge.

The conflict in the Middle East has also had a significant impact on exports. Airspace disruptions reduced freight availability and pushed transport costs sharply higher. “There wasn’t enough freight capacity, and we lost quite a bit because of the delays,” Muthoni says. “At one point freight increased to about $5 per kilogram, while normally we’re paying around $3.80.”

The disruption also affected the European market. “For some time our buyers in the Middle East stopped buying. Flowers that would normally go there were redirected to the Netherlands, creating oversupply and putting pressure on prices.”

Holiday demand provides a bright spot
Despite these challenges, the company enjoyed a number of successful sales periods this year. “Our best season was UK Mother’s Day,” Muthoni says. “Valentine’s Day was a close second, and we also had a really good Easter week.”

Building relationships beyond the trade show
For Mount Kenya Sprouts, trade fairs remain an important way to strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones. Having exhibited at IFTEX for the past three years, Muthoni describes this year’s edition as the busiest yet. “We’ve been here for three years, and this has been the busiest one we’ve seen,” she says. Although there were concerns beforehand because of protests in Kenya, buyer attendance remained strong.

Still, she believes the true value of the exhibition only becomes apparent afterwards. “You meet new people and reconnect with existing customers here,” she says. “But the most important period is the weeks after the show, when you’re following up, sending samples and continuing the conversations. That’s when you really see whether the exhibition has been successful.”

For more information:
Mount Kenya Sprouts
[email protected]
https://www.mtkenyasprouts.com/