Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today / Business

Manuka honey fuels huge export growth

By Tina Morrison
Hawkes Bay Today·
2 Feb, 2016 02:30 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Manuka honey continues to drive exports.

Manuka honey continues to drive exports.

New Zealand honey exports soared 41 per cent to a new record last year as the country benefited from demand for high-value manuka honey.

The value of honey exports jumped to $285 million in 2015 from $202 million in 2014, the latest Statistics New Zealand data shows.

Honey exports have surged from just $36 million a decade ago, driven by the popularity of manuka honey which is prized for its health benefits.

"The honey industry is a real success story with strong growth in exports," said Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. "This is a good example of New Zealand producing high-quality products that attract a high price from premium consumers. The strong demand from overseas is likely to mean continued growth in the industry here.

"The dairy industry gets a lot of headlines but it is worth celebrating other primary industries which are having exceptional results, like honey, horticulture and kiwifruit."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A government and industry primary growth partnership aims to increase the annual value of New Zealand's manuka honey industry to $1.2 billion by 2028. Investment is going into product development and extracting more volume from manuka. The industry has limited competition, given the species only grows naturally in New Zealand and Australia.

However, it faces challenges around what constitutes manuka honey amid concerns about counterfeiting and consumer confusion.

Australia was the largest market for New Zealand honey last year, taking $48.6 million of product. That was followed by the UK ($46 million), China ($45.3 million), Hong Kong ($34.8 million), the US ($26.3 million) and Singapore ($20 million).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The export statistics cover natural honey, and exclude the use of manuka honey as an additive in health and nutritional products and medical-graded product used for wound treatment, which attracts a higher value.

Demand for manuka honey products has helped underpin sales for Comvita, the listed manuka honey and health products maker. Its share price has surged 132 per cent the past year, making it the fourth-best performing stock on the S&P/NZX All Capital Index. NZME

Discover more

Airlines

New services bring more passengers

01 Feb 08:30 PM

Travel writer puts Bay on the map

01 Feb 09:00 PM
Business

Large block of Ahuriri land for sale

02 Feb 01:30 AM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

Hawkes Bay Today

Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority

Hawkes Bay Today

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

'I believe if there’s fair prices, people would love to come back to the movies.'

14 Jul 04:29 AM
Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority
Hawkes Bay Today

Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority

14 Jul 03:12 AM
New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre
Hawkes Bay Today

New Four Square and shops planned for Taradale town centre

12 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP