Apiculture in New Zealand
Angela Liu 17322540
The Market
Honey Export volume and Price over time
The value of export of Manuka honey has been mainly driven by the increased prices. In 2016, the bulk price for Manuka honey was as high as $140/kg, whereas the average price of other New Zealand honey was $39/kg (Green 2018).
Where does our honey go?
MPI, 2017
The Manuka honey market continues to strengthen as global demand for the luxurious product continues to grow. In 2017, the export of honey valued at $317 million, a 28% increase compared to the same time period of 2016 (Morrison, 2017)in which Manuka honey exports made up 80% of this value (Baker, 2017).
Due to the positive direction of the Manuka honey industry, the number of registered hives increased by 20% in 2016 (MPI, 2016) as many more beekeepers are wanting to get a part of the sweet deal Manuka has to offer. As of February 2018, there are over 887,000 registered beehives in New Zealand, with 7836 registered beekeepers. 14885 tonnes of honey was produced in 2017 (APINZ, 2016), with 9,300 tonnes of this exported (Green, 2018). This Manuka honey is not only exported as pure honey, but used in products such as food and beverages, beauty products, natural health products and medicinal products (Orme, 2017).
The 2016/2017 season saw the lowest crop yield for honey since the 2011/ 2012 season, despite the increase in hives. This has mainly been affected by the low average hive yield by hives in the North Island from the cold, wet weather over this period. This has seen a drop in volume of exported honey by 4%, and this negative effect has not managed to overcome the increase in pure honey prices. Despite this, the export value for pure honey increased by 5% during the season (MPI, 2017).
Agri economist Con Williams, states that the only limiting factor of Manuka honey exports is the lack of supply, not demand (Morrsion, 2017).
China's Manuka Craze
Manuka honey has been leading the trend for health super-foods in China. The deteriorating natural environment in China, contributed by the air pollution, has made China a very health- conscious country. In fact, according to a survey by Chinaskinny.com, over 30% of Chinese consumers are willing to pay more for premium product (Baker, 2017). The Chinese market sees Manuka honey not as a spread for toast, but as a medicinal product (Nadkarni, 2017). Natural remedies for health issues make up a large part of Chinese medicinal beliefs (Morrison, 2017), which has driven the popularity of New Zealand Manuka honey in Chinese markets. This concern for health, along with the rising concern over food safety, has resulted in “anything that’s natural doing really well” in Chinese markets (Einhorn, 2016)
This demand for the product has driven Manuka honey prices sky-high. 250g of New Zealand brand Comvita’s Manuka Honey can go for as high as $200 NZD (Comvita, 2018). The demand for Manuka is not seen to be slowing down in the near future, and the price for Manuka honey continues to grow.
How Much New Zealand Honey did China Buy?
$0.7M
in 2011
MPI, 2016
$48M
in 2016
MPI, 2016
$81M
in 2017
Morrison, 2017
Bee Theft
The success of the Manuka Honey industry has caused a a rise in beehive theft (Cann, 2017). According to Senior sergeant Macmillian, this is costing apiarists millions of dollars per annum (Harman, 2016).
Reports of theft from beekeepers has become more frequent and has “a bit of a problem within the industry” (Leighton, 2015). Theft has now moved towards organised crime Groups of thieves are arriving at apiary farms in utes and trucks and moving hives in rural areas. (Harman, 2016).
In 2015, A Taranaki beekeeper had 19 “harvest-ready” hives stolen overnight from his farm 50km north of New Plymouth, costing him thousands of dollars. The thieves were practised and prepared, with suits and utes with them (Leighton, 2017).
In 2017, more than 500,000 bees worth $20,000 were stolen in one night from a rural site in Hawke’s Bay. During the 2016/ 2017 season, Arataki Honey saw 16 of the company’s hives stolen, going as far as to methodically steal the hives which had the most bees (Cann, 2017).
Police are now working together with the Ministry of Primary Industries, Apiculture New Zealand and AssureQuality to solve this issue (Harman, 2016).
Challenges
Real or Fake?
With the supply of Manuka honey kept relatively low, the demand for the liquid gold is very high. This has resulted in a wave of Manuka honey fraud, in which Manuka honey has been mislabelled or doctored.
The Manuka flower is very genetically close to the Kanuka plant, so it has been very hard to distinguish between the two. So, what is sold as Manuka honey may actually contain a large portion of Kanuka (Knight, 2017).
What makes Manuka honey unique is its non-peroxide activity (Knight, 2017). Since there was no legal definition for Manuka honey or required level of NPA as of 2014, some Manuka honey bottles could be labelled as Manuka honey without having a significant increase in NPA compared to other honeys. An investigation conducted tests on seven random samples of Manuka honey, and found that they did not have significantly high levels of NPA (Akkoc, 2014). Therefore what could be advertised as Manuka honey, could be in fact the same in activity as other forms of honey.
As of 2017, the New Zealand government are working on a standard for Manuka honey to distinguish between fake and real products (Iles, 2017). The test is based on a DNA test and identifying four chemical markers in the honey. The standards were hoped to be released before Christmas 2017 (Iles, 2017).
Weather Worries
The weather can have a significant impact on honey production. In rainy and cold weather, the bess have less access to nectar and pollen from the flowers, thus reducing the amount of food the bee colony gets (Brown, 2014). During cold and wet weather, bees tend to stay in their hives and Manuka do not tend to produce as much nectar, thus affecting honey production (Gray, 2017). Cold and wet weather across New Zealand during the 2016/ 2017 season meant that honey production volume fell by 5-10%, the lowest crop since the 2011/2012 season when there were less hives (MPI, 2016).
If the weather is too hot, the bees can not work to gather nectar as they need to gather water to cool themselves down (Tipa, 2018). The 2018 season some sweltering hot summers which resulted in bees unable to work, leading to beekeepers seeing a decrease in honey production. Although clover honey volumes were affected, regions around Otago still saw good Manuka honey production (Tipa, 2018).
References
Akkoc, R. (2014, June 30). Popular with celebrities but could that manuka honey in your cupboard be fake?. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10935779/Popular-with-celebrities-but-could-that-manuka-honey-in-your-cupboard-be-fake.html
Apiculture New Zealand. (2018). Retrieved from https://apinz.org.nz
Baker, G. (2017). Gifting the Beautiful Honey. NZ Business + Management, 31(3), 30.
Brown, D. (2014, March 12). Heavy Rainfall Washing Out Honey Production. Inter Press Service. Retrieved from http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/heavy-rainfall-washing-honey-production/
Cann, G. (2017, September 2). NZ becoming land of theft and honey. The Dominion Post, p. A5.
Comvita. (2018). Manuka Honey. Retrieved from https://www.comvita.com/category/manuka-honey/rangeUS00001
Einhorn, B. (2016). Catching Sales With More Than Honey. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4490), 27.
Gray, J. (2017, January 23). Shock downgrade highlights damaging weather. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11787248
Green, S. (2018). Sky’s the limit for Manuka Honey. Retrieved from http://www.berl.co.nz/economic-insights/trade-and-industry/exports/skys-the-limit-for-manuka-honey/
Harman, A. (2016). Manuka Honey Thefts In New Zealand. Bee Culture, 144(10), 78-79.
Iles, J. (2017, December 3). Government on track to have manuka honey standard before Christmas. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99244884/government-on-track-to-have-manuka-honey-standard-before-christmas
Knight, K. (2017). Manuka Honey Fraud. Retrieved from https://www.businessofbees.com/blog/2017/3/26/manuka-honey-fraud
Leighton, K. (2015, April 6). Bee business stung by brazen hive thefts. The Dominion Post, p. A4.
Ministry of Primary Industries. (2016). Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries. Retrieved from www.mpi.govt.nz
Ministry of Primary Industries. (2017). Ministry for Primary Industries Apiculture Monitoring Programme. Retrieved from https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/27678/loggedIn
Morrison, T. (2017). Honey Exports head for Record. Retrieved from
https://agrihq.co.nz/topic/prices-and-trends/view/honey-exports-head-for-record
Nadkarni, A. (2017, April 2). New Zealand manuka honey favourite in Asia. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/91051173/new-zealand-manuka-honey-favourite-in-asia
Tipa, R. (2018, March 7). Bees too hot to make honey as they swelter in NZ summer. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/102058619/what-a-buzzer-bees-too-hot-to-make-honey
Orme, S. (2017). Manuka- a rapidly growing industry. New Zealand Tree Grower Journal, 2017(February), 10-13. Retrieved from http://woodnet.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/NZ-Tree-Grower-Feb-2017-Manuka-A-rapidly-growing-industry.pdf