Honey industry under pressure but still signs of hope - Apiculture NZ

Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Kos said like all primary industries, honey producers were doing it tough. Photo / 123RF

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

The honey industry is under pressure with rising input costs and falling demand, but industry group Apiculture New Zealand says green shoots are starting to appear.

On Tuesday, large honey company Comvita announced a reshuffle of management amid consultations about job cuts and reduced production due to falling sales in China.

Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Kos said like all primary industries, honey producers were doing it tough.

“Costs have gone up, you’ve got fuel, treatments, the cost of compliance, but then we’re also seeing the effects of slower growth in some of our key markets where consumers have been hit with the rising cost of living which has stunted sales growth.”

Kos said it was not just China, sales had also fallen in the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom.

“We saw exports sitting around $550 million around Covid but now they’re sitting at around $410m so we’ve seen markets and revenue drop over that period.

“There’s no doubt there has been a consolidation of businesses if I look at beekeeper businesses, those with 500 or more hives have fallen by 34% from 2022 to today — so there has been contraction.”

Kos said companies were still working through a backlog of honey from previous bumper seasons - she estimated there could be between 30,000 and 50,000 tonnes sitting in sheds around the country.

But she said hive numbers had dropped.

Five years ago there were a million, today there were about 526,000. So production should be lower next season, which starts in September.

“Given the lower number of hives, I think we can expect production to be lower but it all depends on the weather, most hives seem to have come out of winter well, so it sounds like things are looking pretty good.”

Kos said the mood in the industry was sombre because it had been a tough few years.

However, she said there were some green shoots.

“The US has been a bit of stand out and we are starting to see sales grow, there’s a bit of recovery in that market which is really good to see.

“Exports of monofloral honey to the US were up 34% for the July to March period and another positive is the free-trade agreements with the EU and UK which removed tariffs for honey exporters.”

- RNZ