As in previous years, cut flowers were chiefly responsible for the increase in imports, accounting for 78 per cent of the overall imports into the EU. Their value growth likewise comes to 5.3 per cent.
The fact that the volume of imports is rising faster in percentage terms than their value shows that the trend in the last few years towards higher-value products has not been sustained, according to a market report by Co-Concept. The report was commissioned by Messe Essen for IPM 2017. Changes are continuing, however, with regard to the producing countries. Kenya remains the undisputed number one, accounting for roughly 27 per cent of imports into the EU, followed by Ethiopia, Ecuador and Colombia. The growth in imports is attributable to these countries, while the trend with regard to Israel, the USA and Costa Rica is downwards.