On top of that, I wonder what proportion of supermarket sales the last 5-10 years has been people buying to take or send overseas, daigu channel sales or simply as gifts
When will beekeepers wake up
- Thread starter Morporks
- Start date
or lack of tourists to take it back in their suitcases.
Many of the honey sellers at the markets around Auckland are not beekeepers, simply resellers, so they must be getting it from a beek very cheaply to cover their time and costs, because they are covering multiple markets/month.
its quite common in the supermarket world for a supplier to pay for product placement- there is nothing left to chance in the supermarket layouts.
I agree, there's nothing left to chance, but if I'd have to pay to sell my product, I'd stop selling to them.
you don't actually sell to supermarkets as such, your paying them for their shelf space. your income is how much actually sells.
I read the table as a hive reduction. Though modest. I assume this is a market correction as some earlier speculative businesses will have failed or consolidated to more focussed productive value driven areas?
I have some reservations over the complete accuracy of the MPI data. It is a little broad brush. While the HS code remains the same regardless of the honey variety there will be discrepancy. As an overview I would suggest that Manuka exports have grown relatively strongly but price competition has also strengthened. Simultaneously quality standards continue to improve while compliance cost and complexity has increased. My view would be that future growth of the Manuka market internationally would be strong with new market channels that are not reliant upon honey in a jar. Quality and compliance standards will have to develop further to capitalise on these opportunities.
Non Manuka honey and pale clover in particular has significant future opportunities to grow export business if the price can sustainably be held at <$4.50 per kg. Sustained at this level without significant peaks and troughs and volume contracts will return. Any sharp movements upwards and it is like turning off a tap over night that takes years to turn back on.
Australian honey with MGO content will continue to chip away at the market edges, muddy the waters with the consumer and negatively effect pricing in some markets. Legally dealing with the plagiarism of the 'Manuka' name must remain a priority for the New Zealand honey industry. A strong Manuka industry will help support and develop a strong non Manuka honey industry.
Essentially paying supermarkets for shelf space is not unusual or new. New market entrants do this regularly. In my opinion it is a race to the bottom. It can also reduce the quality of choice for the consumer. Products arrive on the shelf not through merit of quality, innovation or brand but purely because of the financial support given to the retailer to subsidise margin.
I agree, it's not new and sure supermarkets aren't easy to deal with, the bigger they get the more difficult it gets. But they are run by real people and they do want good products on their shelves, at least some of them. The ones which don't, will miss out on my honey. Their loss 
It's interesting that if you forget to dot an i or cross a t on a harvest declaration then MPI can come down like a ton of bricks but if you report somebody selling honey from the side of the road even in the high tutin area suddenly everybody is too busy to do anything. I personally think that the standards have been set way too high and some of the hoops you have to go through are just ridiculous but if we have to have standards then they should be applied evenly to everybody and they are not. I have been tempted to rub MPI's nose in a couple of local messes that they have been told about but studiously ignored. Don't get me wrong I have some good friends in MPI and there are some wonderful people there but also many that seemed to be just out to make life difficult and some of the decisions from on high are just ridiculous. They can also make life very difficult for people who disagree with them.
Things are getting pretty sad in the beekeeping industry, even selling the good manuka honey seems hard to do, havent even heard back from my buyers with a price😢 no sales since last season, winter treatments to buy, hives to honey off, shifting to do and tax times coming up.
That must be so demoralising .
Sheep farmers have the same situation with wool .
But at least they can sell the meat .
and yet everyones talking up the manuka industry .
Supposedly it’s flying off the shelves and if you have “good” manuka honey demand is high and prices firm....it’s not what I’m hearing
i’d love to know who’s buying. we still have most of last years to sell.
P
Prices are firmly dropping from what I've been offered the past few seasons and my honeys been the same, maybe the packers are just paying the beekeepers less and making a huge profit.
