Gloomy Valentine’s Day for flower export industry

The height of the flower season in Zambia saw the country experiencing its worst Valentine’s Day ever with the demand for flowers at an all time low. According to Colin Rhoda, managing director of Zega Limited, as the demand for exotic vegetables and flowers continued to decrease after the economic crunch in September 2008, the perishable industry in Zambia found itself in a crisis situation. “We have managed to stay afloat so far by cutting costs dramatically,” said Rhoda. This includes reducing overtime of workers and evolving the shift system dramatically. “We used to see three truck loads of vegetables heading out of Zambia on a weekly basis, now they are struggling to load one. Abroad the demand for Zambian roses came to a stand-still while the exotic fruit market has declined to a large extent.” Citing further problems such as the price of aviation fuel (Zambia’s costs are probably the highest in the region), the cost to move perishable goods has accelerated. He said the continued assault on the cost of airfreight also had a major impact on exports and imports. “It is just cheaper to move some vegetables that can handle a day standing by road to Johannesburg rather than flying them out. We have become a lot more selective in what we do and we remain focused on keeping our costs low. Anyone who does not do that is not going to survive these tough times.” Zega Limited started operating in 1984 to facilitate the handling of perishable exports by air from Zambia. Originally set up by the Zambia Export Growers Association, most revenue today is made from ramp handling. “We diversified our business somewhat several years ago and it was a good thing too. If we were only reliant on the perishable industry, we would be dead today.” Rhoda says that with volumes down between 30 and 35%, staying afloat is crucial at present. “We have not had to lay off any staff and we don’t plan to. We expect to see some rise in volumes later this year.”