Nairobi to host IFTEX 2026

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:01]More than 210 exhibitors from across the global flower industry are expected in Nairobi next week for the international flory culture trade expo. That's IFEX 2026.

[00:00:13]One of the world's leading flower trade fairs. The exhibition, which runs from the 2nd to the 4th of June, comes at a challenging time for Kenyan exporters who are contending with rising logistics and freight costs linked to tensions in the Middle East, as well as delayed VAT refunds that growers say are piling pressure on cash flows. Industry players are now banking on the expo to help secure new markets, strengthen buyer relationships, and reinforce Kenya's position as a leading global flower exporter.

[00:00:43]uh the airport.

[00:00:47]>> Uh one of the challenge that we have had in the recent past is a change of market requirement and especially with the EU where the EU introduced a new requirements that our flower should be zero have zero tolerance to what we call force codling mode. Force codling mode is a is a mode that is endemic in Africa or in Kenya and therefore you're likely to find it. But they require us to assure them that this particular mold is not in our flowers. Uh due to that uh in the recent past we have had a number of challenges where we had interception of our flowers in the international market.

[00:01:24]>> Our members are owed like a lot of refunds that uh would go a long way into helping their businesses uh by providing liquidity. Yeah. And uh basically just the cash flow Yeah. in their businesses.

[00:01:37]So we we've been working with the government and we still imploring on the government that uh if this can be sorted out if our members can get at least some kind of you know refund on uh the VAT