Flowers

Carnations from Kenya: their own tariff line, a 5% inspection, and a question we cannot settle

Carnations occupy an unusual position in the Kenyan range. They are the one flower apart from roses that the customs nomenclature names on its own line, the European Union and Great Britain agree on their inspection rate, and Australia's dip for them is a third of the rose dose. What nobody can tell you from public sources is how much Kenya still grows, or whether the standard carnation has given way to the spray. This page states what is established and marks what is not.

Specification, and which framework each row comes from

Dimension	Value or convention	Framework
Types offered	Spray carnations named in current Mount Kenya grower ranges; standard carnations described historically Verify before shipment Company and trade sources. Standard carnations are thin in the current catalogues we have read. Confirm type and availability with the supplier.	Kenyan origin Company and trade sources read 22 Sep 2026
Stem length and stems per bunch	Not established Not established We have read no Kenyan carnation listing stating a length or a bunch count and publish none.	Kenyan origin
Kenyan grade	No published national grading standard Not established KEPHIS checks that a consignment is properly graded by size, colour and shape, and publishes no grade scale.	Kenyan origin KEPHIS read 25 Sep 2026
VBN product specification	Not read by this site Not established We have not read a VBN product specification for Dianthus and publish none.	VBN auction framework VBN
EU identity and physical checks	5% of consignments from Kenya Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2389, consolidated 15 June 2026. Colombia 3%, Ecuador 10%, Türkiye 10%.	Destination requirement European Commission read 26 Sep 2026
Great Britain identity and physical checks	5% of consignments from Kenya Defra frequency table dated 15 June 2026. Documentary check on every consignment.	Destination requirement Defra read 25 Sep 2026
False codling moth requirement	Not in scope The EU and GB special requirement applies to cut flowers of Rosa from the African continent. No equivalent for Dianthus.	Destination requirement European Commission; Defra read 26 Sep 2026
Australian devitalisation dose	1.8 g/L glyphosate active ingredient (0.5%), 20-minute immersion Verify before shipment A third of the rose rate. Timing starts when the last bunch is in the solution; no plastic sleeves during treatment. The certificate must state concentration, duration and method. Verify in BICON before each shipment.	Destination requirement DAFF read 25 Sep 2026
Japan plant quarantine	Importable on ordinary inspection - government-issued certificate and port inspection The Plant Protection Station's import conditions database, queried for Kenya, genus Dianthus, fresh stems and leaves, on 26 September 2026 - no prohibition, no additional declaration, no isolation cultivation.	Destination requirement Plant Protection Station (MAFF) read 26 Sep 2026
Norway certificate and duty	Certificate required in original under annex 5A item 4.1; no customs duty in any month Norwegian plant health regulation annex 5A and the Norwegian customs tariff, read 26 September 2026.	Destination requirement Mattilsynet; Tolletaten read 26 Sep 2026
EU special requirement, leaf miners	Official statement of freedom from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa Annex VII point 28 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, consolidated 6 July 2026, names cut flowers of Dianthus among the genera that, from third countries, must carry an official statement that they (a) originate in a country recognised as being free from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa in accordance with the relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, or (b) immediately prior to export were officially inspected and found free from them. Union requirement only; the British row is separate.	Destination requirement European Commission read 26 Sep 2026
GB special requirement, leaf miners	Official statement of freedom from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa Annex 7 Part A entry 39 of retained Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 as it applies in Great Britain, text at 25 September 2026, names cut flowers of Dianthus for any third country - an official statement (a) that they originate in a country which, in accordance with the measures specified in ISPM 4, is known to be free from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa, or (b) that immediately prior to export they were officially inspected and found free from them. Read separately from the Union text.	Destination requirement Defra read 26 Sep 2026
Tariff line	HS 0603.12, carnations Its own six-digit line since the 2017 nomenclature. Kenya's own export series in WITS is reported under the older single line, so the separate line does not yet yield a Kenyan statistic.	Destination requirement UK Integrated Online Tariff read 25 Sep 2026

Each row states the framework it belongs to. A convention used at auction is not a Kenyan national standard, and neither is a destination country's legal requirement. Specifications are not a quotation.

The only other Kenyan flower with its own tariff line — and what that does not give you

Heading 0603 names roses, carnations, orchids, chrysanthemums and lilies on their own six-digit lines and puts everything else in 0603.19. Of the flowers Kenya grows in quantity, only roses and carnations are named. In principle that means the carnation trade can be read separately from the fillers. In practice Kenya's export statistics as held in the World Bank's WITS are reported under the older nomenclature, in which all fresh cut flowers are one line — so the separate code exists and the separate Kenyan number does not. The codes, and the one WITS uses →

Five in a hundred, on both sides of the Channel

The European Union and Great Britain both open five Kenyan carnation consignments in a hundred. The Union's table puts Colombia at 3% and Ecuador and Türkiye at 10%, so Kenya sits in the middle of its competitors on this flower rather than at the top, as it does on roses. The reason roses are different is a single pest requirement that applies to Rosa and not to Dianthus — the false codling moth page explains it. In Great Britain's published interceptions for 2026 to date, one of the twenty-three Kenyan cut-flower interceptions was Dianthus, and it was documentary. The full tables →

The Australian dip is a third of the rose rate

Australia requires carnations to be devitalised at 1.8 g/L of glyphosate active ingredient — 0.5% — where roses take 5.4 g/L. A consignment that mixes the two is not one treatment: it is separate dips at the right dose for each genus, or the higher rate applied to everything, and which of those the exporter does is a question to settle before the first shipment. The certificate must then state the concentration, the duration and the method. The dip, the doses by genus and the certificate wording →

Standard or spray, and the question we cannot settle

Carnations are described in trade histories as a Kenyan mainstay. In the current grower ranges we have read they appear mainly as spray carnations, named among the Mount Kenya region's products. Whether that reflects a decline in standard carnations, a shift to sprays, or simply which growers publish catalogues, we do not know, and we have found no source that settles it. We publish no trajectory and no volume. What a buyer can do is ask the supplier which type they grow, in which lengths, and how many stems a bunch holds — the three things this page cannot tell you.

Two more lanes, on their own pages

Japan admits this genus from Kenya on ordinary inspection, duty-free, on a government-issued certificate. Norway has its own certificate list and a tariff that changes with the calendar. Japan → Norway →

The declaration each European lane requires for this genus

The Union: Annex VII point 28. Cut flowers of Dianthus from third countries must carry an official statement that they originate in a country recognised as being free from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa in accordance with the relevant international standards, or that immediately prior to export they were officially inspected and found free from them. It is the statement a Kenyan certificate for carnations is checked against at a Union border control post.

Great Britain: Annex 7 Part A entry 39. The British annex, read separately, names cut flowers of Dianthus for any third country and requires an official statement that they originate in a country known to be free from the same two leaf miners in accordance with the measures specified in ISPM 4, or that immediately prior to export they were officially inspected and found free from them. The two instruments are worded differently and set the same two routes; each lane checks the certificate against its own text. Every destination’s declaration, genus by genus →

What to specify

• Standard or spray.
• Stem length and stems per bunch — no convention is established, so state both.
• The destination, because the Australian dose and the inspection rate follow from it.
• Quantity and frequency — the box is the unit a quotation is built from.

Questions buyers ask

Are Kenyan carnations inspected less than Kenyan roses?

Yes, on both lanes. The European Union and Great Britain each open 5% of Kenyan carnation consignments against 25% of Kenyan rose consignments. The difference is the false codling moth requirement, which applies to cut flowers of Rosa and not to Dianthus.

What dose does Australia require for carnations?

1.8 g/L of glyphosate active ingredient, a 0.5% solution, for 20 minutes — a third of the rose rate. The certificate must state the concentration, duration and dipping method, and the department's own instruction is to verify the condition in BICON before each shipment.

Does Kenya still grow standard carnations?

We cannot tell you from public sources. Current grower ranges we have read name spray carnations; standard carnations are described historically. Ask the supplier which type they grow, and treat any market-share figure you are quoted as an estimate.

What we have not been able to establish

Each of these is a real question a buyer may put to us. None has an answer we can evidence, and we would rather say so than fill the gap.

• The trajectory of carnation production in Kenya Described historically as a mainstay, thin in current catalogues except as sprays. No source we have read settles whether that is decline, substitution or catalogue coverage.
• A VBN product specification for Dianthus We have read the VBN framework for roses and not for this genus.
• Observed Kenyan stem lengths and bunch counts No Kenyan carnation listing stating them was among the sources we read. We will not borrow a convention from another origin.
• Which leaf-miner route KEPHIS writes for this genus The Union’s point 28 and Great Britain’s entry 39 each allow a statement of country freedom or a statement of pre-export inspection. Which of the two appears on a Kenyan certificate for carnations is shown only by the certificate itself. Ask to see one.