Popularly known as IFTEX, the show brings buyers from across the world to meet with growers who have staged a spectacular show of unarguably one of the best mixes of flowers the world can get, as well as the industry supply chain of products and services that together deliver the final bouquet to the customer’s vase.
IFTEX 2016 was special as it marked the fifth year since the show was launched in 2011. In addition, several celebrations and important meetings for flower industry stakeholders coincided with the fair, attesting to the growing importance of the event to the sector.
The Kenya Flower Council was celebrating its 20th anniversary and its global counterpart Union Fleurs (Union of International Flower Associations) held its Annual General Meeting during IFTEX week.
Due to the great interest of existing exhibitors to participate again, but also from many new companies and the invitation to flower growers from surrounding countries, IFTEX extended its exhibition space with another 2,000m² bringing the total exhibition area to 10,000m², attesting to its year on year growth.
IFTEX has stumped its authority as a leading flower trade show in the world. From the beginning, the event exhibited signs of setting a new record as the fastest growing flower show in the history of international flower trade fairs due to its attracting exhibitors and visitors from other continents and five years later, all indications are, the position still holds.
The exhibition reached the top of the the largest cut flower trade fairs in the world and has again rubberstamped this position by surpassing its own 2015 record affirming its continued improvement since the inaugural show. The growth of IFTEX mirrors the impressive floriculture industry that Kenya has built up in the past three decades; the reason why this trade fair has grown so fast to the size it has now.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, HPP President Mr. Dick van Raamsdonk said, “When I started a trade show in this beautiful country, I had no doubt in my mind it would grow into one of the leading cut trade flower fairs in the world and although I predicted it would take 3 to 5 years to get it to the top, it is still very impressive to see it happening. And the beauty of this all is the potential I see to bring it to the next level, which is making it the number one fair of its kind in the world”.
This year we had 200 companies exhibiting, more than 3,500 national and international attendees, bringing the number of participating countries to more than 60. Exhibitors included growers & exporters, brokers, breeders, propagators, suppliers and other flower industry related companies. Visitors included international flower buyers and flower growers. Both profiles are the prime targets of the event. The exhibition itself has grown another 10% in size, accommodating 15% more exhibitors and 10% more visitors, compared to last year.
Kenya is one of the few countries in the world where the floriculture industry is still growing. A strong, healthy, stable sector and, as a result, fully capable of supplying any flower buyer with any quantity, quality and variety, year round, giving the country a leading position in the international arena.
The special focus of exhibitors this year was on finding new customers in order to increase exports. Many first time buyers attending from the Far East, Middle East, South East Asia, Europe, but also Russia, China and the USA are getting on board, enormous buying power markets that are looking more and more for Kenyan grown flowers.
