Who supplies the United Kingdom's cut flowers: Kenya against every other origin, 2021 to 2024

The 2024 table, as the United Kingdom reports it

In 2024 the United Kingdom imported USD 760.0 million of fresh cut flowers, 101.6 million kilograms. By partner, as reported by the UK to UN Comtrade under the single fresh-cut-flower line:

Source: UN Comtrade via WITS, United Kingdom imports of 060310 (fresh cut flowers and buds, HS 1988/92 nomenclature), 2024, gross imports as reported by the United Kingdom; read 26 September 2026. The last column is our division of value by quantity and is an average across every genus, grade and length an origin ships — not a price.

Three things the table says. The Netherlands' line is not Dutch flowers; it is the auction and the Dutch importers re-exporting, and a large part of it is Kenyan roses that entered Europe at Schiphol. Kenya is the largest origin shipping direct, by a wide margin over Colombia. And Ecuador's value per kilogram is roughly twice Kenya's — the product mix, large-headed roses flown at a high freight cost, not a verdict on quality.

The trend: Kenya up, the Netherlands down

Same source, 2021 to 2024, UK-reported, USD million rounded by us from the published USD thousand.

The Dutch share fell by nearly nineteen points in three years while the direct-from-origin shares rose. Kenya's direct share grew every year. What the series does not say is why — whether British buyers moved from the auction to direct purchase, whether Dutch re-exports were re-routed, or whether post-2021 border rules changed the paperwork calculus — and this site does not supply a reason. What a buyer can take from it is that direct import from Kenya into Great Britain is a growing, mainstream route, and the rules for it are on this site's British pages. The British border, page by page →

Why the UK's figure for Kenya is not Kenya's figure for the UK

Kenya reports USD 125.8 million of cut-flower exports to the United Kingdom in 2024; the United Kingdom reports USD 190.1 million of imports from Kenya. The gap is normal in trade statistics and has three usual causes: the importer values goods with freight and insurance included where the exporter values them at the point of departure, the importer records the country of origin where the exporter may record the first country of consignment, and the two customs services do not count the same calendar consignments. Neither figure is wrong; they measure different things at different ends of the flight. This page uses the British figures because the question is the British market. The exporter-side series, and the same gap on the Dutch lane →

What this table cannot tell you

Which flowers. The UK reports under the single fresh-cut-flower line for this series, so roses, carnations and fillers are not separated here. Which importers. Trade statistics are by country, not by company. What the Dutch line contains. The Netherlands' 51.7% includes Kenyan roses sold at the auction and trucked to Britain; the true Kenyan share of what British florists sell is larger than 25.0%, and no published series says by how much. Why the customs codes make the genus question permanent for now → The same table for the Netherlands, where Kenya is first →

What to ask

• Direct from Kenya, or via the Netherlands? The share table shows both routes are large; the border pages show they are treated differently.
• What is the value per kilogram on your own quotations, and does the box specification explain it? Why a quotation starts with a box →
• How does the origin's interception record compare? Great Britain publishes it →