Gypsophila from Kenya: sold by weight, inspected at 3%
Gypsophila is the Kenyan flower most often bought by people who have only ever bought roses, and it is the one on which a rose buyer's habits fail first. It is sold by the weight of a bunch, not by the stem. It meets the lightest inspection rate of any Kenyan line in the European Union's table. And it shares a customs line with every other filler, so nobody can tell you how big the trade in it is. This page states each of those, with the authority behind it.
Specification, and which framework each row comes from
| Dimension | Value or convention | Framework |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of trade | By weight - a bunch is a stated weight, and the stem count follows from it Consistent across the trade listings we have read. Roses are sold by the stem, bunched in tens. | Kenyan origin Trade listings read 24 Sep 2026 |
| Bunch weight and stem length, as observed | 40 g bunches at 80 cm; also 50 to 70 cm, white and dyed Verify before shipment Two sellers' listings, recorded verbatim - a market observation, not a standard. Confirm the weight per bunch and the length with the supplier before comparing quotations. | Kenyan origin Trade listings read 24 Sep 2026 |
| 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. Grade A is whatever the seller means by it. | 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 Gypsophila and publish none. | VBN auction framework VBN |
| EU identity and physical checks | 3% of consignments from Kenya Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2389, consolidated 15 June 2026. Ecuador 5%. The lightest Kenyan line in the table. | 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 Gypsophila. | Destination requirement European Commission; Defra read 26 Sep 2026 |
| Australian devitalisation dose | Not listed by genus in the department's guide Verify before shipment The published dose table names Rosa, Hypericum, Dianthus, Chrysanthemum and others but not Gypsophila. The applicable condition is in BICON on the day of 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 Gypsophila, 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 4.2; ordinary duty 249% all year, 0% for Kenyan origin under preference code G 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 Gypsophila 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 Gypsophila 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 0603.19, other fresh cut flowers Shared with alstroemeria and every genus not named in 0603.11 to 0603.15. No public statistic separates Kenyan gypsophila from the rest of the line. | 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 unit of trade is weight, and it changes the quotation
Roses are sold by the stem. Gypsophila is sold by the weight of a bunch. Observed listings give 40 g bunches at 80 cm; a price per bunch is therefore a price for a weight, and the number of stems in it is a consequence rather than a specification. A supplier quoting "per bunch" without a weight has not given you a comparable number. Why moving beyond roses changes the unit you are buying in →
The lightest Kenyan line in the EU table — and why
The European Union opens 3 consignments of Kenyan gypsophila in 100. It opens 25 consignments of Kenyan roses. The gap is not about gypsophila being cleaner or Kenya being trusted more on one flower than another. It is that the special requirement driving the rose rate — the false codling moth — applies to cut flowers of Rosa and to nothing else in the box. The pest, the regulation, and why only roses are in scope →
Great Britain runs the reverse comparison. It opens Kenyan gypsophila at 5% — higher than the Union's 3% — while the two lanes agree on roses at 25%. The full tables, origin by origin → In Great Britain's published interceptions for 2026 to date, two of the twenty-three Kenyan cut-flower interceptions were gypsophila, and both were documentary. What gets stopped, ranked →
Where it is grown
Trade and company sources name the Mount Kenya region — Timau, Nanyuki, Meru — as a gypsophila strength, alongside alstroemeria and the summer-flower range, as against the Rift Valley's volume roses. The region is verified; the product association is a trade-source account rather than a statistic. The region, what is verified about it and what is not →
White, dyed and tinted
Listings offer gypsophila white and dyed. A dyed stem raises a customs question a white one does not — whether it is still "fresh" under 0603.1 or "otherwise prepared" under 0603.90 — and it is a question for the customs broker with the invoice in hand. The codes →
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 Gypsophila 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 gypsophila 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 Gypsophila 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
- Weight per bunch and stem length. Not "a bunch".
- Natural or dyed, and if dyed, which colour range.
- The destination, because the inspection rate and the dose question above change with it.
- Quantity and frequency — the box is the unit a quotation is built from.
Questions buyers ask
Why is gypsophila priced per bunch rather than per stem?
Because it is sold by weight. Observed listings give bunches of 40 g at 80 cm, so a price per bunch is a price for a weight, and the stem count follows from it. A rose buyer comparing that with a per-stem price is comparing two units, and the comparison is meaningless until the weight per bunch is stated.
Does the false codling moth statement apply to gypsophila?
No. The EU and Great Britain apply that special requirement to cut flowers of Rosa from the African continent. Gypsophila still needs a phytosanitary certificate, and any additional declaration the destination requires for the genus — but the rose statement is not one of them, and that is why the Union's inspection rate on Kenyan gypsophila is 3% against 25% on roses.
How often is Kenyan gypsophila physically inspected?
3% of consignments into the European Union and 5% into Great Britain, with the documentary check on every consignment in both. Australia publishes no comparable rate.
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.
- A VBN product specification for Gypsophila We have read the VBN framework for roses and not for this genus. Until we have, the auction-framework row says so.
- The Australian devitalisation condition for Gypsophila The department's dose table names other genera and not this one. The applicable condition is whatever BICON states for the case on the day of shipment, and we will not infer a dose from a genus that is listed.
- 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 gypsophila is shown only by the certificate itself. Ask to see one.
- The size of Kenya's gypsophila trade It sits in HS 0603.19 with every other filler, and Kenya's own statistics report all fresh cut flowers in one line. Anyone quoting a share is estimating.
- A month-by-month availability calendar None is published. Open-field production is reasonably expected to be more rain-seasonal than greenhouse roses, but that is an inference from the growing method, not a finding.
Sourcing gypsophila?
Tell us the weight per bunch and the length, natural or dyed, the quantity, the frequency and the destination airport, and we will come back to you.
Last verified 26 September 2026
Sources
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Observed trader and grower product listings — gypsophila, white and dyed
What we read
Gypsophila at 80 cm in 40 g bunches from one seller and at 50 to 70 cm, white and dyed, from another. Market observations, not standards, and not a supplier list.
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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2389 — consolidated text of 15 June 2026
What we read
Annex I - Gypsophila from Kenya 3%, from Ecuador 5%; Article 4(2) - the 100% basic rate for genera not listed.
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Defra, UK Plant Health Information Portal — Frequency of plant health import inspections across GB
What we read
Table dated 15 June 2026. Gypsophila from Kenya 5% identity and physical; documentary 100%.
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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 — Annex VII, point 62 (false codling moth, cut flowers of Rosa)
What we read
The special requirement is written for cut flowers of Rosa L. from countries of the African continent and named territories. Cited here for its scope - it does not extend to Gypsophila.
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KEPHIS — Phytosanitary Services
What we read
The exit-point standard that a consignment is properly graded by size, colour and shape; no national grade scale is published.
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Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry — Cut flower devitalisation treatment guide
What we read
The dose table by genus does not name Gypsophila. Treatments are to be verified in BICON.
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UK Integrated Online Tariff — heading 0603, cut flowers
What we read
Subheadings of 0603.1 by genus; gypsophila falls in 0603.19, other.
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UKPHINS — Great Britain plant health interception reports, 2026 to date (Fera API)
What we read
Two of the twenty-three Kenyan cut-flower interceptions in 2026 to date were Gypsophila, both documentary. No denominator is published.
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Retained Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, Annex 7 Part A entry 39, as it applies in Great Britain
What we read
Legislation.gov.uk text as it stood at 25 September 2026, all known changes applied. Entry 39 - cut flowers of Chrysanthemum L., Dianthus L., Gypsophila L. and Solidago L. (and leafy vegetables of Apium graveolens and Ocimum), any third country - official statement (a) of origin in a country known, in accordance with the measures specified in ISPM 4, to be free from Liriomyza sativae and Nemorimyza maculosa, or (b) of official inspection immediately prior to export found free. The only other cut-flower entries in Part A are 41 (Orchidaceae) and 94 (Rosa, false codling moth); none names Alstroemeria or Hypericum. Read in a browser.