Beekeepers Club > Newsletter
Q1-2009 Newsletter (by John Kennedy)
NZ HONEY INTO 430 UK STORES
You’ve got to admire our friends across the ditch. Not only is the world awash with Sauvignon Blanc but it might shortly be deluged with New Zealand Honey. Dissatisfied at taking low prices for their honey a group of Otago, South Island honey producers have got together to form a co-operative NZ Honey Co.
Previously up to 50% of their South Island honey, which is claimed to have record levels of anti-oxidants, has been exported in bulk for $3 or $4 a kg while the retailers were selling it for $30 a kg. It was often blended with honey produced elsewhere losing the attributes of purity, quality and taste along with its origin from New Zealand.
Considering that there is a $100 million market out there the NZers have branded their honey with anti-oxidant certification and have just obtained a supply agreement which will see the product in 430 of the stores of the UK’s largest health foods retailer Holland & Barrett. With other sales to Waitrose and Morrisons the honey will soon be available in about 1,000 stores in the U.K. This follows success in having the NZ honey stocked in 120 supermarkets in Hong Kong with a launch proposed shortly into top-end department stores in China.
Five years of research undertaken at the Waikato University where the antibiotic qualities of Manuka honey were discovered has found South Island honey to have exceptionally high levels of anti-oxidants. The NZ Honey Co believes it is creating an important ‘point of difference’ based on the product quality and health attributes as well as the NZ image and reputation.
NZ Trade & Enterprise the State export organisation has assisted in identifying the export opportunities with market research and other guidance. NZ Honey Company chairman and beekeeper Peter Ward said that the change to branded and certified honey marketing came out of necessity at a time when beekeepers were mostly relying on income earned by their wives or outside businesses just to remain viable. Improving the return to the producer was also seen as helping producers counter the threat to their livelihoods from the varroa mite.
HONEY PRICES ON THE RISE
In case you didn’t see it, an article in The Age Business section on 16 February pointed out that retail honey prices are expected to rise following the floods in Queensland, the drought in NSW and the bushfires in Victoria which have all contributed to falling production.
Quoting Capilano’s managing director Robert Masters the article noted that honey prices had increased 12 percent in the last week. This followed an 11.4% lift to prices of $3.02 a kg paid to beekeepers in the first half of the latest financial year. The higher prices had helped Capilano Honey, a public company whose shares are listed on the BSX (formerly Bendigo) Stock Exchange, to convert a previous $1.35 million half year trading loss into a $356,000 profit for the six months to the end of December. This was achieved on a rise of 26 percent in revenue for the six months to $39.1 million. Capilano noted that its North American honey export business is thriving and benefiting from the improved exchange rates. Capilano recently got its honey products into the leading supermarket chain in the US and it is also an established brand on the east coast of Canada. “In the USA people do look for Australian honey because they see it as something new, something clean” Masters is quoted as saying.
TASMANIA CROOK ALSO
According to Tassie Beekeepers Association President Julian Wolfhagen the island’s industry expects to see a 50% fall in production due to a late season which impacted on clover, black berry and leatherwood supply.
Traditionally hives are moved on to the coveted leatherwood areas pre Christmas but the late season has led to a forecast of 30,000 kg of pre-leatherwood honey losses even though the State’s production is put at 1,000 tonnes a year. Changing land use, poor seasons and returns are said to have driven a number of established beekeepers out of the industry over the past decade. While the boutique honeys from Tassie are in strong export and domestic market demand.
NATIONAL PRODUCTION DOWN BY OVER HALF
Commercial apiarist Ken Gell who chairs the Federal Council of the Australian Apiarists Association has commented that national honey production has fallen an indicated 60 to 70% in the 2007-8 period.
This is largely a result of the seasonal condition impacts and consequently there is a significant increase in imports from China and the other large volume, low cost producing nations which is evident on the retail shelves even if the actual origin may be carefully concealed by labelling. You know the phrase “made from Australian and imported ingredients” which now seems commonplace on almost everything.
FOOD SAFETY FOCUS IN NEW ZEALAND
A NZ apiarist Kevin Prout from Whangamata will appear in court on March 3 to face four charges of selling honey as food unfit for human consumption.
Tutu toxins were found in honeycomb from his Projen Apiary which caused 22 people to suffer convulsions and violent seizures after its consumption. The disease is potentially fatal. Tests by the NZ Food Safety Authority found the honeycomb contained high levels of the toxic substances tutin and its derivative hyenanchin. These are thought to come from bees feeding “on honeydew secreted from the rear end of tiny sap sucking vine hopper insects which feed on the NZ native tutu plant.” The affliction can be fatal and NZ beekeepers are supposed to prevent their bees from feeding on the toxic honeydew plants. Each of the four charges carries a $NZ3000 maximum penalty.
BUSHFIRE UPDATE
Notwithstanding the devastation and homes and lives lost at Kinglake from the February 7 Black Saturday bushfire our Club President Sue Zuber and her husband Erwin were successful in saving themselves, their house and presumably their hives in the disastrous fire. Some minor property damage was sustained but by relative loss and lives lost at Kinglake we are assured they are OK but temporarily restricted to home due to the road closures and travel restrictions until the fire damage is cleaned up.
Less fortunate was Club member John Kennedy who lost his hobby farm at Buxton including home, buildings, farm equipment, a dozen hives and a large collection of beekeeping equipment. And as he says “bloody near himself” as John was on site when the fire came, even with a fire pump, hoses and plenty of tank water but he was rescued by a neighbour as his property on the Maroondah Highway and buildings "exploded". Doubtless there are other bee, hive and significant vegetation losses which will impact on both the hobby and commercial beekeeping sectors into the future.