The global natural honey market is worth US$8.4 billion and is expected to grow at a rate of about 4.9% to reach US$10.4 billion by 2026. Worldwide, 1,779.6 tons of honey are produced. About 30% of the world’s honey is produced in China, followed by Turkey (5.10%), Iran (4.4%) and the United States (4.1%). Pakistan is the sixth largest honey producer in the world, accounting for 3.4% of global production.
Tips for Honey Import in Pakistan
- Over the last decade, imported honey in Pakistan has increased from $56.2 million to $100.11 million, with an annual growth rate of 6.5%, higher than the growth rate of world imports.
- In addition, imports from Pakistan are almost non-existent at US$1.10 million in 2020.
- The main destinations for Pakistani honey imports are the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- Over the past decade, Pakistan’s honey imports have increased from $22.2 million to $40.8 million, an annual growth rate of 3.5%, higher than the growth rate of world imports.
- In addition, imports were almost negligible at US$0.5 million in 2019. During this period, imports grew at an annual rate of 0.5%, making Pakistan one of the top net importers of honey.
- The top import destinations for Pakistani honey are the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Tips for Natural Sweetener for imported Honey?
- Honey, in simple terms, is a natural sweetener extracted from plant nectar by bees.
- The important components of honey type are carbohydrates, water, nitrogenous substances and minerals.
- Honey has antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties that help prevent infections, heal wounds and burns, and soothe colds and coughs.
- Honey also contains minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus and zinc.
- So, Honey is considered a possible alternative to homemade sugar.
- The evolution of honey imports and imports shows that the quantity of honey imported to the world market is greater than the quantity imported into the country.
- The average price of imported honey was USD$1.9 and the average price of imported honey was US$2.8 approx.
- The main buyers of Ethiopian honey are Germany, the United Kingdom, Sudan, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
- The major buyers of beeswax were Germany, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
- Despite the importance of the honey and beeswax market, producers have little incentive to maintain quality standards suitable for domestic and international markets, resulting in low prices.
Guidelines for Organic Honey
- Last year, operational guidelines for the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) were issued to strengthen honey production and import capacity.
- The NBHM also aims to cooperate with international organizations such as the FAO, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as well as with countries developing modern technologies in the beekeeping sector.
- Cooperation programs are envisaged for activities such as importing technology, equipment and machinery, recruiting international experts, study tours abroad and training programs for officials and farmers/beekeepers.
- The biggest obstacle for Pakistani honey importers is price volatility, which makes high-quality Pakistani honey more expensive. Through these initiatives, Pakistan hopes to become more price-competitive.
- The organic food industry is growing rapidly in Pakistan and there are many success stories of brands that have successfully entered this lucrative market.
- The exhibition is managed by Comexposium, a leading event organizer. They also organize exhibitions abroad, such as in France. It has been held in Shanghai for the last 20 years and is the ideal place to learn about the latest market developments, meet industry professionals and make contacts.
Processing of Honey
- The Honey and Beeswax Processing Industry Development Authority is working with a range of stakeholders, including the government and the private sector, to identify barriers to the production, processing and marketing of honey and other bee products.
- As a result, a number of measures were put in place to address these issues and develop the honey and other bee products sub-sector.
- The objective of this study is to examine the legitimacy and authenticity of imported and local honey and bee products, as well as marketing opportunities and problems in general.
Evolution of Honey
- The main objective of this study is to evaluate the legitimacy and authenticity of imported and locally produced honey and bee products.
- To identify the problems related to the importation of honey and propose possible solutions to the competent authorities.
- Identify potential importers of natural honey and other bee products.
- To collect data on which to base future research.
Methodology
- A pre-prepared structured and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the volume of imported natural honey, its economic impact, quality control and safety of imported honey, and packaging equipment.
- Secondary data were collected from government agencies, such as the volume of honey imported in the last five years, import licensing requirements, verification of quality and safety standards, and regulatory agencies of the institutions involved.
- The collected data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and some data were interpreted using graphs and charts.
Tips for Honey import trends?
- The Pakistani government has set up the National Beekeeping Board (NBB), offering various incentives to develop the beekeeping industry and promote honey imports.
- The Khadi and Agro-Industries Board is also a government agency with research, training and extension centres for beekeeping throughout Pakistan.
- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry provides various incentives such as feasibility studies and research, import promotion and market development, package development, quality promotion and quality control support, research and development, etc.
- According to the Ministry of Trade, there are 10 legally registered virtual importers of natural honey in the country, who import honey from different countries and consume it in international hotels and some supermarkets.
- As can be seen from the table, most of the importers are located in the Ethiopian capital and only one importer is located in Bishoftu city.
- About 77.78% of the owners are Ethiopians and the remaining 22.2% are foreigners.
Non-tariff measures (NTM) for honey
- The Codex Alimentarius Commission has set 15 parameters for the standardization of honey.
- For example, the water content of honey (excluding heather) should not exceed 20%. Sucrose content is also an indicator of adulteration and should not exceed 5g of sucrose per 100g of honey (ICIMOD-ICIMOD, 2012).
- Developed regions such as the EU and the US generally adopt the NTM standard, which is more stringent than CODEX.
- In the case of honey, the NTM also appears to be more stringent than the CODEX safety recommendations.
- For example, the EU does not set MRLs for antibiotics in honey, so the use of antibiotics to treat bees is not allowed.
- in order to control residues in honey, the EU has set provisional MRLs of 25 ppb for hygromycin, 0.3 ppb for chloramphenicol and 1.0 ppb for nitrofurans.
- This differs significantly from the MRLs introduced by the EU for honey.
Tips for Honey Bee Colonies
- According to a report released last year by the Beekeeping Development Committee, headed by Bebek Debroy, there could be about 200 million colonies in Pakistan, up from the current 3.4 million.
- Increasing the number of honey bee colonies will not only increase the production of bee products but also improve the overall productivity of agriculture and horticulture.
- The demand for honey is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years due to its medicinal properties and it is imperative that Pakistani honey importers accelerate capacity building to take advantage of this opportunity.
- Ethiopia is known for its agro-climatic diversity and high biodiversity, which supports a diverse flora and a large number of bee colonies1.
- This makes Ethiopia a major honey producer in Africa and the ninth largest honey producer in the world. It is also the largest producer of beeswax in Africa and the third-largest in the world (FAOSTAT 2005 data).
Agricultural Activities
- Beekeeping has a long tradition in Ethiopia and is closely linked to other agricultural activities. Beekeeping is mainly practised by smallholder farmers and contributes significantly to increasing off-farm income and reducing poverty in rural areas.
- Honey is considered a cash crop and only about 10% of the honey produced in the country is consumed by beekeepers
- More recently, the Ethiopian government has taken initiatives to organize landless and unemployed young men and women in urban and rural areas to be employed in beekeeping and beekeeping equipment.
- The word “import” is derived from the word “port”, as goods were often sent abroad by sea.
- The basis of international trade is imports and imports; the higher the value of imports relative to imports, the more negative the trade balance.
Conclusion
The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Development Institute aims to develop an internationally competitive industry in the livestock processing subsector by supporting necessary capacity building, investment promotion, agenda-driven research and market development.
Earnings
- The potential of the country’s livestock resources and the positive developments in the livestock sub-sector to increase foreign exchange earnings.
- create jobs have attracted the attention of the government and the private sector.
- no earnings, and job creation. As a result, ambitious but achievable targets have been set. However, in order to achieve these goals, several issues that hinder the development of the subsector need to be addressed.
- Most of the, directly and indirectly, related governmental and non-governmental organizations were considered in this assessment.
Final Words
These include the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Agency, the Ethiopian Food, Medical and Health Authority, the Ministry of Trade, the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority, the International Hotels, the Ethiopian Honey and Beeswax Processors and Importers Association, and the supermarkets.