Poor honey season costs $2M exports

Press, 12 April 1983, Page 22

Poor honey season costs $2M exports

PA Auckland Unsuitable weather this summer has cost the honey industry at least $2 million in lost exports, and will probably mean scarcities and a price rise later in the year. Mr Curtis Wicht, marketing manager of the Honey Producers Co-operative, said the effect on the industry was “terrible”. “I cannot think of any other industry which is so much affected by climatic conditions as ours,” he said. “When it is wet or windy, the bees do not fly.” Mr Wicht said the cooperative had been unable to make any bulk exports, where honey is sent in 200litre drums to packers overseas, this year. He estimated this had meant a loss of about $1 million. Also, pre-packed honey exports had been seriously affected. While the cooperative had been able to

supply established cusgtomers, it had not been able to develop new business. “This has been especially frustrating because the international market is short of honey at the moment, probably because China has had similar difficulties.” Mr Wicht said it was likely that another ?1 million had been lost in prepacked sales, though it was impossible to give definite figures. “It is impossible to measure our actual loss because, if you cannot supply it at the right time when the demand is there, you do not usually get a second chance. “If we had been able to have a good season to supply the market this year, we could have expected to keep those new customers for the future.” Mr Wicht said that no shortages locally had been noticed, but these were likely later in the year.

“Although we are affected by the price freeze at the moment, we are having to consider a rise of between 8 and 10 per cent when that is lifted to help cover the losses we have absorbed,” he said. Bees need warm, sunny weather, with lots of rain but no wind, to encourage them to work. “This year we have had just the opposite,” Mr Wicht said. The bees usually start to move in the spring, culminating in the first crop in mid-December, and going through to March. The co-operative was established in October, 1981, to replace the Honey Marketing Authority. It represents 130 commercial beekeepers, many of whom live in remote areas and rely on the co-operative for distribution. The co-operative sends New Zealand honey to more than 50 countries. Japan is the biggest market.