Comvita CEO Brett Hewlett, announcing the company's six monthly results last week, also took the opportunity to downplay fears its business would be affected by some of the threats that have struck international apiary businesses.
"It is climatic conditions that have the biggest impact on honey harvest in New Zealand,"he said.
Mr Hewlett noted that this season areas with settled summer/spring conditions, like Northland, have had a reasonable honey flow resulting in an average crop, while some regions had experienced overall lower temperatures during January that resulted in lower than average crops.
"There has been much media hype about the impact of the varroa mite and colony collapse, but the apiary management practises adopted by Comvita mean that these biological threats are not a major issue for us here in New Zealand," said Mr Hewlett.
"There are more bees and beekeepers today in New Zealand than there have ever been in our history and we have the ability to increase hive numbers quickly.
"Colony collapse as experienced in the USA and Europe over many years does not exist in New Zealand and we don't regard it as a credible threat to our business."
