In 2013 Kenya exported over 800 million Euro worth of horticulture products (flowers, vegetables and fruit) to markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This was 6% more than in 2012. The amount increased from 380,421 in 2012 to 477,000 last year. Fresh vegetables are the main export products of Kenya after cut flowers. An export increase of 5% per year is expected for the next few years.
Whereas 35 years ago it was mainly green beans, snow peas, sugar snaps, broccoli and aubergine, nowadays the supply from Kenya is much more varied, and sweetcorn and carrots are taking up an increasingly important place. The Netherlands imported 42 million Euro worth of fresh vegetables from Kenya in 2013. The eastern Africa country bought a small 1 million Euro worth of fresh and dried vegetables from the Netherlands.
The factors that the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) believe have contributed to the growth of the horticultural sector over the last decade are a favourable equatorial climate - which means that products can be grown all year round -, the presence of different ecological zones which enable a varied cultivation, fertile soil and a well educated, not too expensive population. " To ensure that the quality of the products are maintained after harvest, exporters use modern technology," says FPEAK. "With two international airports in Nairobi and Mombasa and an international port we can ship fresh vegetables to all corners of the world easily and quickly."
"Kenyan vegetables are predominantly of high quality. The supply is pretty much constant, also the sales of some vegetables slows down sometimes. There is always space for extension, especially for the baby vegetables, which are becoming increasingly popular in Europe."
source: Berichten Buitenland