The tightening up of what can be marketed and exported as New Zealand Mānuka honey has seen honey prices on the local market continue to fall.
Latest figures from Stats NZ show clover honey prices dropped 19 percent in the year ended February 2020 to a weighted average price of $8.20 per 500 grams.
Consumer prices manager Sarah Johnson said the decrease followed the introduction by the Ministry for Primary Industries of new definitions for mānuka honey in December 2017.
"The new definitions ensure that Mānuka honey produced for export is indeed premium New Zealand mānuka honey," said Johnson.
"This has increased the supply of non-Mānuka honey, as previously the surplus would have been used as mānuka blend honey.
"Coupled with an increase in global honey production, these factors have put strong downward pressure on clover honey prices," she said.
Clover honey prices had dropped 27 percent since December 2017 when the new definitions were introduced, after rising steadily in the three years before that.
The Mānuka Honey Appellation Society is currently seeking to trademark the use of the term "Mānuka honey" for global marketing, so New Zealand beekeepers to have exclusive rights to it.
