Marketing Constraints of Export Floriculture Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is experiencing a downfall in export performance of floriculture sector despite of the rich bio diversity within the country. Hence this study was conducted to analyze the marketing constraints of Sri Lankan export floriculture industry. Thirty exporters were purposively selected from the registered floriculture product exporters at Export Development Board Sri Lanka, based on their regularity in exporting for three consecutive years and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Friedman test (Fr) was used to prioritize the constraints faced by the exporters and hypothesis testing was done using one tail - one sample T test (t) to test the degree of influence of the constraints on floriculture trade at five percent significance level. Results revealed that marketing problems (mean rank = 2.53, Fr=2i.34, p=0.0003) as a dominating challenge in export floriculture industry. Lack of product and market diversification (t=3-92, p=0.0002), limited market access due to trade barriers imposed by importing countries (t=3.83,p=o.ooo3), trade agreements between importing countries and competitors of Sri Lankan floriculture products (t=3.55,p=0.0007) were identified as significant constraints which negatively influenced on floriculture production and trade. Further, results disclosed that disorganized marketing network within the sector (t= 0.14, p=0.4446), non availability of an auction centre for the sector (t= -0.28, p=o.6i09), lack of brand recognition for Sri Lankan floriculture products (t= -0.76, p=o.7723), non availability of an internationally recognized local certification system for Sri Lankan floriculture products (t=o.43, p=o.3346) were not significantly influenced on floriculture production and trade. Therefore, in designing a sectoral strategy for floriculture, attention should be paid on significant constraints which deter the efficient production and competitiveness of Sri Lankan floriculture products.