Kenyan pyrethrum farmers will now have to wait for at least two more months before a new plant, recently upgraded at a cost of Sh400 million ($59 million, is put to use by the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK). The board had earlier expected to commission the new plant in May.
PBK's managing director, Ms. Pauline Sego, said the commissioning of the new plant, which was postponed due to flower shortage, is expected to take place by September this year, when most farmers begin to harvest and deliver their flowers to the board.
Sego ruled out reports that the board intends to import flowers from Rwanda, saying that apart from the obvious increase in the cost of operations, Rwanda has the same crop cycle as Kenya and was also currently experiencing its low pyrethrum flower season.
PBK's factory manager, Mr. Elly Owawa, told the PS that although the new computerised plant would require an optimum flower quantity of up to 1,000 metric tonnes to test-run it for 20 days, a minimum quantity of 350 metric tonnes would be enough for its commissioning. The plant's pyrethrin extraction capacity is 50 metric tonnes per day.
The upgrading of the plant followed a trail of destruction left by a fire in 2003, which left the world's leading flower processor with a limited extraction capacity driven by only two outdated plants; one constructed in 1958 and another one in 1974. The board was therefore forced to transfer its excess flowers to Rwanda for pyrethrin extraction, a development which increased the cost of doing business.
Kenya accounts for 70 per cent of pyrethrum traded in the world. The country mainly exports extracted pyrethrin, which other companies use as raw material for manufacturing various chemicals.
PBK officials say the new plant will significantly lower the board's factory overheads and may lead to upward review of flower purchase prices and reduction of prices of the board's products to its customers.
Daily Nation
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