Hawke's Bay honey haul looking good at Arataki

Arataki Honey export manager Rhys Flack said the honey harvest so far is looking good. Photo File

Honey producers in Hawke's Bay are looking at a much-improved harvest, bouncing back from a write-off season last year.

Arataki Honey export manager Rhys Flack said the company was about half-way through its harvest and the early signs looked good.

''Overall we're quite pleased with the way things are going, compared to last year.
''By the end of January last year, we had virtually written-off the season.

''Climatically it was so dry and really nothing for the bees to collect. This year things have started pretty well.

''Certainly we are looking at an average to better-than-average season.

''The honey season nationally is still a bit patchy,'' Mr Flack said. ''Otago is in the grips of a big dry. Last year the South Island had a reasonable season but I don't know how they will go this year — they might be facing what we did last year.''

True Honey Company chief executive Jim McMillan said the company started harvesting hives nationally in September.

While production had been patchy throughout the country, overall it was looking in better shape than last year.

''Some areas have gone relatively well and are flowering this year with the extended period of hot weather we have had in late November, which brought the flowering on quite rapidly.

''There has been quick production but quite a short window when the bees are actually producing honey.''

Mr McMillan said hives would be harvested for the next three to four weeks.

Earlier this week, NZX-listed company Comvita declared the 2018 honey season had been a successful one so far.

''Although full visibility over the entire 2018 crop will not be available until April/May when we complete extraction of honey from the hives, the honey season has progressed to a point where we have early estimates of an average (or normal) harvest season,'' chief executive Scott Coulter said.

''We expect the central North Island region to deliver a honey yield of an average season.
''Providing the above-normal temperatures continue for the remainder of this summer, the Wairarapa, Whanganui, East Coast and Hawke's Bay regions are expected to yield more honey than an average season

''Overall this is a welcome return to generally favourable weather conditions conducive to producing honey, compared with the extremely poor season in 2017.''