Swiss Migros supermarkets ran out of roses Monday. Exotic fruit and asparagus from the United States may be the next items European shoppers won't be able to find.
But the Icelandic volcano's disruption to world trade will be more costly for African exporters than it is for European retailers.
Agriculture comprises about one-quarter of gross domestic product in Kenya, the provider of 35 percent of the fresh cut flowers sold in Europe.
"It's certainly a crisis for the flower growers in Kenya, but at this stage the macro impacts on food retailing are very marginal," said Nick Bubb, an analyst at Arden Partners.
If farmers in Africa's Great Rift Valley ever doubted that they were intricately tied into the global economy, they know now that they are. Because of a volcanic eruption more than 5,000 miles away, Kenyan horticulture, which as the top foreign exchange earner, is a critical piece of the national economy, is losing $3 million a day and shedding thousands of jobs.
"The longer that U.K. airspace is closed, the greater the damage, not just to businesses here, but also for farmers in the developing countries," said Christopher Snelling, an official at the Freight Transport Association, a U.K. trade group. "Their livelihoods are in serious jeopardy."
The pickers are not picking. The washers are not washing. Temporary workers have been told to go home because refrigerated warehouses at the airport are stuffed with ripening fruit, vegetables and flowers, and there is no room for more until planes can come and take away the produce.
"It's a terrible nightmare," said Stephen Mbithi, the chief executive officer of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.
He rattled off some figures: Two million pounds of fresh produce is normally shipped out of Kenya every night. Eighty-two percent of that goes to Europe, and more than a third goes solely to Britain.
The only way to alleviate this would be to restore the air bridge to Europe, which would necessitate the equivalent of 10 Boeing 747s of cargo space -- per night.
"There is no diversionary market," Mbithi explained. "Flowers and courgettes are not something the average Kenyan buys."
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