ケニアの花生産者（野菜・コーヒー豆も同様）は、ロシア・ギリシア情勢の変化で弱くなったユーロのため、輸出事業が困難な状況に陥っている。昨年は、東アフリカ諸国とEU間での関税交渉が不調に終わったことで、その間の輸入関税の支払い（妥結後は無税）が輸出ビジネスに悪影響を与えていた。
まずいことには、欧州への花の輸出（対小売り・消費者向け）は現地のユーロで評価される（支払請求はユーロ）。ところが、ケニア人にとって決済はドルになる。他の国際通貨に対して、ここ半年でドルは強含みである。堅調に推移しているドルでの決済は、ケニアにとっては二重の痛みになる。
国際通貨情勢が、単品生産（バラやコーヒー）に偏った「ゆがんだ生産構造」が、どれほどその国の経済を痛めつけるのかの例について、オランダの記者が書いた記事を紹介する。
同じような状況がいま、日本とマレーシアやベトナムの「キクの貿易」でも起こっている。相対的に弱くなった円とアジア通貨との関係である。欧州とケニアの関係と同様に、やはり請求金額は円建てで、決済はドル建てになるからだ。
以下は、いつものように、園芸オンライン雑誌「HortiBiz」からの引用である。
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”Weak euro hits Kenyan exporters”
Kenyan exporters of horticultural products to the European Union have been hit by a weak euro as the world’s second largest reserve currency touched a seven-month low against the Kenya shilling this month. The shilling has gained strength against the euro since July last year.
Kenyan exports to Europe comprise mostly agricultural products including flowers, vegetables, fruits, tea and coffee. A weak euro means fewer shillings for each euro exchanged thus dealing a double blow to exporters to Europe, as they invoice their produce in euros, but procure their inputs in dollars. The dollar has, on the other hand, been firming up against the Kenya shilling to touch Sh91.7, putting pressure on an import-dependent economy as importers have to pay more shillings for a dollar.
“It is definitely a blow to us considering how weak the shilling is against the dollar yet all our imports are paid in dollars,” says Jane Ngige, CEO of the Kenya Flower Council. But the council does not have figures of projected losses. Cut flowers and fruit exports to Europe registered a sharp rise in volume and value in the first nine months of last year, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. However, later in the year horticulture suffered losses after a three-month delay in signing a new Economic Partnership Agreement, thus forcing exporters to pay an import tax to Brussels. Traders attribute the decline in the value of the euro to political upheavals in the Eurozone that have resulted in the currency also touching an 11-year low against the US dollar.
“The Euro has not been doing well due to political uncertainties in Russia and the Greece situation thus attention has shifted to the US, which seems to be doing well as reflected in its currency,” says a financial expert.
– By our correspondent Frans van den Houdt –
17:07 – Mon 09/02/2015
Bron: HortiBiz
