Importing flowers from Kenya: the whole route in one page, with the instrument behind each step
Several exporter guides published in 2026 describe importing flowers from Kenya as a list of documents. None names the instrument behind any of them, and none says which step actually fails. This page is the route in order — Kenyan side, aircraft, destination side — with each step stated once, dated, and linked to the page on this site that holds its evidence. It is the map; the pages it points to are the territory.
Before anything moves: the destination decides the crop
KEPHIS certifies against the importing country's rules, so the sequence starts at the destination, not the farm. A pest requirement that needs a growing-period inspection cannot be met after harvest; a treatment the destination requires has to be on the certificate; a permit the destination requires is the importer's to hold before the flowers land. Decide the destination, read its page, and only then specify. The export sequence, in order →
Step 1 — Who you are buying from, and what you can verify
Two routes exist: the Dutch auction, and direct from an exporter. On the direct route the exporter must hold an annual Agriculture and Food Authority export licence and, if it packs, a pack-house registration; neither is on a public register, so both are documents to read. Certification schemes — GLOBALG.A.P., MPS, the Kenya Flower Council's standard — describe the farm's practices, not the flowers, and two of the three can be checked in a public register. The two routes → What is verifiable, in order → Traceability — what an exporter can show you →
Step 2 — What you are specifying, in which unit
Roses are bought by the stem, in stated lengths and head sizes; gypsophila by the weight of a bunch; carnations and alstroemeria by stems per bunch with no established convention. Every quotation is built from a box, because air freight charges on volume. The rose specification → One page per flower → Why a quotation starts with a box →
Step 3 — The Kenyan inspection and the certificate
KEPHIS inspects the crop during growth from regional offices, checks eight standards at the exit point, and issues the phytosanitary certificate — KES 500 for fresh produce, with inspection charged by weight. The certificate follows the IPPC model; its additional-declaration field carries whatever the destination requires, and for roses into Europe that is the false codling moth statement. What KEPHIS attests → The certificate, field by field → The false codling moth requirement →
Step 4 — Proof of origin, if a preference is claimed
The 0% duty into the United Kingdom and the European Union is claimed, not automatic: an EUR.1 movement certificate or an origin declaration, valid for a stated period, with a value ceiling for a non-approved exporter's declaration. Proof of origin →
Step 5 — The aircraft, and the terms
Airfreighted flowers are charged on the greater of actual and volumetric weight. Sea freight exists and changes the product. And the Incoterm decides who is the importer of record — which is who bears a held consignment. Air or sea → Incoterms for something that flies →
Step 6 — The destination border, lane by lane
Each destination applies its own duty, VAT, plant health regime and inspection rate, and the structures differ — per consignment, per check, per minute, ad valorem. The destination pages hold the instruments; the comparison holds the shape.
| Destination | Duty on Kenyan flowers | Plant health | Deeper |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 0% under the EPA; 20% VAT | IPAFFS notice, 13-day certificate window, roses opened at 25%, £7.64 per consignment | IPAFFS · certificate rules · inspection · duty and VAT |
| European Union, via the Netherlands | 0% under the EPA; VAT national | Roses opened at 25%, carnations 5%, gypsophila 3%, unlisted genera 100%; KCB charges by the minute | inspection table · fees · plant passports · the Netherlands |
| Australia | Free; GST | Devitalisation dip by genus, permit condition naming Kenya, BICON, A$48 per import declaration | devitalisation · permit and BICON |
| Saudi Arabia | 5% duty, 15% VAT, effectively 20.75% | Import permit valid 15 days from issuance | Saudi Arabia |
| United Arab Emirates | 5% duty, 5% VAT, effectively 10.25% | Agricultural licence and permit | United Arab Emirates |
Every border charge, and how differently each one behaves →
Step 7 — What actually goes wrong
On the one border that publishes its reasons, every Kenyan cut-flower interception in 2026 to date was paperwork and none a pest, and nearly half were the additional declaration. Timing rules — the certificate window, the notice period, the posting deadline — delay consignments without appearing in any table. The causes ranked, and the check for each →
Step 8 — After clearance
No plant passport travels with cut flowers inside the European Union or Great Britain. What travels is the cold chain, which is the buyer's. Plant passports → What determines vase life →
What this page deliberately does not do
It states no price, no minimum order, no lead time and no availability, because none of those is a property of the route. It does not total a landed cost, because two lines of the total — turnaround at the border and freight on the day — are not published anywhere. And it does not replace the destination's own instruments, which are linked from every page it points to. When you have the flower, the length, the quantity, the frequency and the airport, ask →
Ready to specify a requirement?
If you can state the product, stem length, head size, quantity, frequency and destination, we can give you a useful answer. If you cannot yet, say so on the form — every technical field has an “I don’t know yet, please advise” option.
Last verified 26 September 2026
Sources
-
This page is an index of evidence held on the linked pages
What we read
No figure originates here. Duty, VAT and effective rates are from the destination pages; inspection rates from the EU and GB frequency pages; the KES 500 certificate fee from the KEPHIS page; the interception record from the why-consignments-get-stopped page; the A$48 declaration charge from the Australia pages. Each of those pages cites its primary source and the date it was read.