Honey and beeswax
At a glance
- Global honey production reached 1 870 thousand tonnes in 2018.
- China is the major producer and exporter accounting for the 24% of global production and 18% of global exports.
- In the last ten years Africa recorded the highest growth rate in honey production. Ethiopia ranks 1st in Africa and 10th at the global level recording a production of 58 thousand tonnes of honey in 2018.
- Honey export values are about 2 billion USD.
Infographic
Description
Honey is a natural sweet substance produced by honeybees from the nectar of plants (“blossom” or “nectar honey”). It can also be produced by secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which bees collect and transform (“honeydew honey”) (Codex Stan 12-1981). The colour, aroma and consistency of honey depend on the flowers bees have been foraging (Bradbear, 2009). Honey is composed of different sugars, mainly fructose and glucose, and organic acids, enzymes and solid particles derived from honey collection. Voluntary standards for honey were developed through the Codex Alimentarius in 1981 to ensure quality control (Codex Stan 12-1981), yet honey content can vary greatly even within a country (Bradbear, 2009). There are moreover different categories of honey: monofloral honey is where bees have been foraging mainly on one type of plant and named after it; for instance Acacia, lime (linden) and sunflower honey. Multifloral or polyfloral honey has several botanical sources (e.g. meadow blossom honey and forest honey).
Beeswax is a creamy coloured substance produced and used by bees to build combs that form the structure of their nest (Bradbear, 2009). One kilogram of beeswax is worth more than one kilogram of honey. About 40 percent of trade in beeswax is used for the cosmetics industry, 30 percent in the pharmaceutical industry, 20 percent for candle making, among other uses (Bradbear, 2009). Despite its value, it is often neglected as source of income in tropical countries. For instance, in the process of honey extraction it is quite common in African countries to discard beeswax from the cappings and the combs. Managing bees for honey production or other apicultural products can provide rural people in particular with income, improved nutrition and incentivize the protection of landscapes and sustainable management of flowering trees, shrubs and grasses. In developed countries there is a marked shortage of genuine wax for use as comb foundation. Since wax also tends to retain residues (e.g. anti-varroa treatments) it has become very difficult to find pure beeswax. In Africa, where there is a tendency to not treat bees or treat them less, there is great potential to market beeswax abroad especially for those intending to pursue organic beekeeping that requires pure beeswax. Prices are high for this product, typically more than honey per unit.
Global honey production amounts to 1 870 thousand tonnes in 2018 registering an average annual increase of 2.4% in the last decade. According to FAOSTAT, Asia is the major producing area recording a share of 44% followed by Europe accounting for the 24% of global production; Americas is the third largest supplier with 19%; Africa is for the fourth (11%) and Oceania accounts for the remaining 2%. The efficient production is registered in the Americas, with the highest yield per beehive while the lowest figures have been recorded for Asia and Africa. This could be due to the widespread use of traditional hives such as log or grass hives which typically yield less per unit (hive), although it is important to keep in mind beekeepers may possess dozens of these hives, often made with locally-available materials at low or no cost, and hence overall harvest per beekeeper may still be higher.
| Region | Production (tonnes) | 2009-2018 AAGR (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 829 451 | 22 |
| Europe | 439 736 | 51 |
| Americas | 359 469 | 20 |
| Africa | 209 288 | 27 |
| Oceania | 32 310 | 45 |
TABLE 1. Honey production and average growth rate over the last ten years (Source: own elaboration).
It is worth noting that these figures are likely to be underestimates, especially for African and Asian countries given the lack of country data collection processes for honey and the widespread informal trade of many developing countries which is not reported in formal statistics
Notwithstanding, the average growth rate of honey production in the last ten years positions Africa in first place (3.2% growth on average). Europe ranks second (2.5%), likely as a result of policy measures adopted at EU level since the 1990s to support and promote the apicultural sector. Among these, the apicultural programmes set out in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 under which each member country draws up three-year national agricultural programmes co-funded (50%) by the EU which allocated 240 million euros for the years 2020-2022 alone. The funding aims at supporting bee health, hive management, technical assistance, analysis and research, market monitoring and product quality. From the annual implementation reports on the application of the national apicultural programmes, it is possible to get a detailed picture of the EU apicultural sector that includes 600 000 beekeepers and their 16 million of beehives producing 280 000 tonnes of honey in 2018 alone (European Commission).
| Region | Production (tonnes) |
|---|---|
| China | 446 900 |
| Turkey | 107 920 |
| Argentina | 79 468 |
| Iran | 77 567 |
| Ukraine | 71 279 |
| USA | 69 104 |
| India | 67 442 |
| Russian Federation | 65 006 |
| Mexico | 64 253 |
| Ethiopia* | 58 588 |
Table 2. Top ten honey producing countries in 2018 (Source: FAOSTAT)
Despite these impressive figures, EU honey production is not sufficient to satisfy the domestic demand that is covered primarily by China, the main global producer country. According to Table 2 representing the top ten producing countries in 2018, China accounts for 24% of global production while other top countries account for the 36% of global production quantity. Among these top countries, Turkey ranks 2nd recording a production of 107 920 tonnes. Current difficulties linked to quality and marketing issues represents for this country a barrier to the export of honey, which is largely consumed locally (USDA, 2015; Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2019). It is also worthy to note that Ethiopia is the most important African country in terms of production quantity and 10th at the global level. According to the Central Statistical Office of Ethiopia, in 2018 the production reached 58 588 tonnes which was gathered from seven million beehives, most of which are reported to be traditional hives. This kind of beekeeping is the oldest production system and is largely carried out in forests and woodlands – widely practiced in the western and southern part of the country by hanging several hives on trees – and in backyards. Other production systems such as the transitional and the modern improved systems are less common. Overall the honey production contributes significantly in generating and diversifying the income of smallholders farmers and households although some constraints such as the lack of knowledge, skilled man power, proper management of pest and diseases and pesticides hamper the sectoral growth (Sahle H, Enbiyale G, Negash A, et al. 2018).
*In Ethiopia approximately 80% of the honey production is absorbed for producing the national brew called tej.
Apicultural products include not only honey but also beeswax, royal jelly, pollen and propolis. Comprehensive and reliable figures at the global scale for these products are scarce and FAOSTAT is the only global data source reporting on one of these apicultural products, beeswax. However, the low availability of official country data does not allow to provide the global picture of the product so, for the purpose of this brief, we limited this work to the dissemination of country data for beeswax production in 2018 as reported by FAOSTAT (annex 1) thus leaving for a later stage the compilation and dissemination of statistics on royal jelly, pollen and propolis.
Global exports of honey amounted to 664 thousand tonnes in 2019 recording a decrease with respect of the previous year of 1.5%. This is mainly due to the lower level of exports by American countries. China is first world exporter, which main markets are Japan, UK and other European countries. Among other top exporters it is worth nothing the increase of India and Ukraine during the last decade.
| Area | Exports quantity 2019 (thousand tonnes) | Market share (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | 4.5 | 0.7 | -12.3 |
| Europe | 160.0 | 24.1 | -22.8 |
| Americas | 251.2 | 37.8 | 9.8 |
| Africa | 234.7 | 35.4 | 6.9 |
| Oceania | 13.4 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
Table 3. Export quantity 2019. (Data source: trademap.org)
In terms of value, world exports reached almost 2 billion USD. Top five countries include New Zealand that, although ranks 16 in terms of quantity, is the second exporter with a market share of 11.4% very close to the figure of world leader - China – that recorded 11.8% in 2019. This table highlights the big divide between bulk production attracting low prices and some other niche productions (eg. manuka honey) which fetch much higher prices and tend to highlight a certain set of properties of the honey and also rely on focused and well-crafted marketing and promotional campaigns. The comparison of the unit value between China, Ukraine at one end and New Zealand at the other is striking in this respect. It is worth noting that other countries, upon realising the impact and returns of manuka honey, have since carried out analyses of their own honeys to discover that some of them had the very same properties and potential of manuka honey.
Hence marketing also plays a role in the success and market value of honey.
| Area | Exports value 2019 (thousand USD) | Market share (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 235 314 | 0.7 | -12.3 |
| New Zealand | 228 775 | 24.1 | -22.8 |
| Argentina | 146 700 | 37.8 | 9.8 |
| Germany | 131 491 | 35.4 | 6.9 |
| Ukraine | 113 042 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
Table 4. Exports values. (Data source: trademap.org)
Imports figures shows the importance of European countries in the global markets as they account for 52% of world imports quantity. The importance is also underlined by the import quantities and values of the three European countries – namely Germany, UK, and France – that rank among the top five countries.
The second most important region is America driven by the imports from the USA which rely primarily on Asian suppliers – mostly India and Viet Nam with a share of 26 and 20% - and secondly on LAC American countries – mostly Argentina and Brazil with a share of 19 and 13% respectively.
The third region Asia represents a market share of 15.6%, where Japan represents the fourth global importer, Africa and Oceania the share 1.7 and 0.7% respectively.
| Area | Imports 2019 (thousand tonnes) | Market share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 11.5 | 1.7 |
| Europe | 197.2 | 29.5 |
| Americas | 104.2 | 15.6 |
| Africa | 351.4 | 52.5 |
| Oceania | 4.9 | 0.7 |
| Area | Imports quantity 2019 (thousand tonnes) | Value (thousand USD) |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 188.9 | 430 080 |
| Germany | 81.0 | 249 612 |
| UK | 48.8 | 111 116 |
| Japan | 44.8 | 144 524 |
| France | 32.8 | 118 391 |
Annex 1. Beeswax production in 2018
| Country | Beeswax production (tonnes) |
|---|---|
| India | 25 895 |
| Ethiopia | 5 721 |
| Argentina | 4 921 |
| Turkey | 4 813 |
| Republic of Korea | 3 315 |
| Kenya | 2 504 |
| Angola | 2 313 |
| Spain | 1 904 |
| Tanzania | 1 844 |
| Brazil | 1 767 |
| Mexico | 1 684 |
| USA | 1 612 |
| Uganda | 1 402 |
| Uruguay | 1 142 |
| Dominican Republic | 1 022 |
| Central African Republic | 842 |
| Chile | 615 |
| Pakistan | 472 |
| France | 441 |
| Madagascar | 415 |
| Greece | 413 |
| Senegal | 362 |
| Bulgaria | 324 |
| Cameroon | 304 |
| Czechia | 302 |
| New Zealand | 286 |
| Portugal | 278 |
| Australia | 276 |
| Jamaica | 254 |
| El Salvador | 219 |
| Burundi | 198 |
| Paraguay | 163 |
| Sierra Leone | 151 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | 149 |
| Egypt | 115 |
| Slovakia | 115 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 100 |
| Ecuador | 97 |
| Italy | 90 |
| Costa Rica | 87 |
| Mozambique | 87 |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 77 |
| Morocco | 75 |
| Haiti | 71 |
| Tunisia | 65 |
| Guatemala | 64 |
| Mali | 61 |
| Rwanda | 49 |
| Belgium | 40 |
| Timor-Leste | 40 |
| Zambia | 32 |
| Cyprus | 31 |
| Honduras | 16 |
Annex 2. Statistical note
Country grouping are in line with the FAO standard on Country Codes (FAO M49) first issued in 2016 and last amended in December 2019.
| Central Products Classification, CPC 2.1 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section | 0 | Agriculture, forestry and fishery products | ||||||
| Division | 02 | Live animals and animal products (excluding meat) | ||||||
| Group | 029 | Other animal products | ||||||
| Class | 0291 | Natural honey | ||||||
| Subclass | 02910 | Natural honey | ||||||
| Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, HS 2017 | ||||||||
| Chapter | 4 | Dairy produce; birds' eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, nes | ||||||
| Heading | 04.09 | Natural honey | ||||||
| Subheading | 0409.00 | Natural honey | ||||||
Reference classifications used for this brief are the Central Product Classification (CPC 2.1) and the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS 2017).
Detail figures and summary tables for honey production are based primarily on FAOSTAT. However, to increase the accuracy of data, when official country data were available but not reported in FAOSTAT, we used the official country data source (in red). The table below provides the country data for 2018 along with the data source used for this brief.
| Country | Production (tonnes) | Flag |
|---|---|---|
| China | 446 900 | Official data |
| Turkey | 107 920 | Turkstat |
| Argentina | 79 468 | Official data |
| Iran (Islamic Republic of) | 77 567 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Ukraine | 71 279 | Official data |
| United States of America | 69 104 | Official data |
| India | 67 442 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Russian Federation | 65 006 | Official data |
| Mexico | 64 253 | Official data |
| Ethiopia | 58 588 | Central Statistical Agency |
| Canada | 42 748 | Statistics Canada. |
| Brazil | 42 346 | Official data |
| Spain | 36 394 | Official data |
| United Republic of Tanzania | 30 584 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Romania | 29 162 | Official data |
| Germany | 28 700 | European Commission |
| Republic of Korea | 26 720 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Hungary | 26 000 | European Commission |
| Poland | 23 472 | Official data |
| Angola | 23 411 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Italy | 23 000 | European Commission |
| Kenya | 20 525 | Official data |
| Uruguay | 20 422 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Viet Nam | 20 415 | Official data |
| New Zealand | 20 000 | Official data |
| France | 17 489 | Official data |
| Central African Republic | 16 200 | FAO estimate |
| Greece | 15 000 | European Commission |
| Uzbekistan | 12 578 | Official data |
| Chile | 12 000 | FAO estimate |
| Mali | 11 964 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Serbia | 11 427 | Official data |
| Australia | 11 300 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Bulgaria | 10 338 | Official data |
| China, Taiwan Province of | 10 303 | Official data |
| Thailand | 10 110 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Portugal | 10 030 | Official data |
| Czechia | 8 992 | Official data |
| Cuba | 8 800 | Official data |
| Morocco | 7 430 | Official data |
| Croatia | 7 400 | European Commission |
| Algeria | 7 324 | Official data |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 6 600 | European Commission |
| Guatemala | 5 631 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Rwanda | 5 000 | FAO estimate |
| Azerbaijan | 4 994 | Official data |
| Myanmar | 4 876 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Cameroon | 4 500 | FAO estimate |
| Pakistan | 4 289 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Lithuania | 4 207 | Official data |
| Tajikistan | 4 182 | Official data |
| Slovakia | 4 112 | Official data |
| Switzerland | 4 005 | Official data |
| Austria | 4 000 | Official data |
| Madagascar | 4 000 | FAO estimate |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 992 | Official data |
| Nepal | 3 980 | Official data |
| Egypt | 3 973 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Senegal | 3 942 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Albania | 3 937 | Official data |
| Republic of Moldova | 3 737 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Israel | 3 600 | Official data |
| Tunisia | 3 573 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Colombia | 3 500 | FAO estimate |
| Sweden | 3 400 | FAO estimate |
| Japan | 2 886 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Kazakhstan | 2 772 | Official data |
| Belarus | 2 647 | Official data |
| Finland | 2 606 | Official data |
| Georgia | 2 500 | Official data |
| Syrian Arab Republic | 2 500 | FAO estimate |
| Yemen | 2 357 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Armenia | 2 200 | Official data |
| Latvia | 1 998 | Official data |
| Kyrgyzstan | 1 958 | Official data |
| Paraguay | 1 826 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Belgium | 1 800 | European Commission |
| Netherlands | 1 800 | European Commission |
| El Salvador | 1 765 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Slovenia | 1 700 | European Commission |
| Afghanistan | 1 677 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Peru | 1 600 | FAO estimate |
| Denmark | 1 500 | Official data |
| Lebanon | 1 500 | FAO estimate |
| Norway | 1 350 | Official data |
| Estonia | 1 253 | Official data |
| Costa Rica | 1 180 | Official data |
| South Africa | 1 081 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Chad | 1 046 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Guinea | 1 037 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Dominican Republic | 932 | Official data |
| Ecuador | 870 | FAO estimate |
| Zambia | 815 | FAO estimate |
| Libya | 800 | FAO estimate |
| Jamaica | 770 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Sudan | 740 | FAO estimate |
| Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 698 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Sierra Leone | 670 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Mozambique | 613 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Cote d'Ivoire | 610 | FAO estimate |
| Burundi | 600 | FAO estimate |
| Oman | 600 | Official data |
| Cyprus | 584 | Official data |
| Timor-Leste | 582 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 562 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Montenegro | 500 | FAO estimate |
| North Macedonia | 475 | Official data |
| Palestine | 400 | FAO estimate |
| Turkmenistan | 400 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Haiti | 331 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Ireland | 300 | European Commission |
| Fiji | 282 | Official data |
| Nicaragua | 242 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Mongolia | 225 | Official data |
| New Caledonia | 215 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Jordan | 199 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Samoa | 183 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Guinea-Bissau | 157 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Papua New Guinea | 154 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Luxembourg | 128 | Official data |
| French Polynesia | 122 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Reunion | 105 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Iraq | 98 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Saudi Arabia | 96 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Honduras | 91 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Guyana | 90 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 70 | Official data |
| Belize | 54 | Official data |
| Puerto Rico | 52 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Bhutan | 41 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Suriname | 37 | Official data |
| Guam | 18 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| French Guyana | 17 | Official data |
| Tonga | 12 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Wallis and Futuna Islands | 12 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Cayman Islands | 10 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Niue | 7 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Tuvalu | 4 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
| Cook Islands | 1 | FAO data based on imputation methodology |
Table 5. Honey production 2018
(Data sources: FAOSTAT; Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency, Agricultural sample survey 2018/2019; Statistics Canada. Table 32-10-0353-01 Production and value of honey; Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat); European Commission for Germany, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Croatia, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Slovenia and Ireland.)
Bradbear, N. 2009. Bees and their role in forest livelihoods. A guide to the services provided by bees and the sustainable harvesting, processing and marketing of their products. Production and Trade of Beeswax (Chapter 10), FAO.
European Commission. 2020. Honey market presentation. Available here.
European Commission. 2019. Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of apiculture programmes.
FAO, IZSLT and Apimondia. 2019. Infographic.
Sahle, H., Enbiyale, G., Negash, A., et al. 2018. Assessment of honey production system, constraints and opportunities in Ethiopia. Pharm Pharmacol Int J. 2018; 6(1):42-47. DOI: 10.15406/ppij.2018.06.00153
Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Directorate General for European Union and Foreign Relations. 2019. Sustainable food systems country report Turkey.
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. 2015. Turkey: The Turkish beekeeping and honey sector.
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