Honey production in Taiwan this year has only reached 35 percent of last year’s level due to cold fronts in January and continuous rain in March, the Taiwan Beekeeping Association said yesterday.
The association conducted an unofficial nationwide honey census last month and released a report showing that litchi honey yields for the first five months of this year stood at 500 tonnes, compared with last year’s total of 5,100 tonnes, while longan honey yields came in at 3,000 tonnes, compared with 5,300 tonnes last year.
The yield rate for mixed honey, which entered its prime production season at the end of last month, could not be accurately gauged, the association said.
A separate report released by the Council of Agriculture showed that litchi and longan honey accounted for more than 90 percent of honey produced in Taiwan, the association said.
The association’s report said that the nation’s total honey production this year would come in at less than 4,000 tonnes, compared with 11,000 tonnes last year and 12,000 tonnes in 2014.
Association president Chiang Shun-chuan (江順泉) said that the predicted total yields for this year are the worst he has seen in more than four decades of beekeeping.
He said that with the increased amount of water in honey this year, production of concentrated honey is likely to drop, while its price is likely to rise.
The council agreed with the results of the association’s census.
Council official Wang An-shih (王安石) said that the production of litchi honey in southern Taiwan was greatly reduced due to rain, and while central Taiwan produced more longan honey than it did last year, the overall regional production rate has still dropped.
Nantou County beekeeper Wang Chih-tsung (王智聰) said it was inevitable that honey prices would at least double this year, saying that prices for honey in his area have already risen from between NT$50,000 and NT$70,000 per 200-liter barrel to between NT$85,000 and NT$120,000 per barrel.
According to the association, there are four different grades of honey: pure honey; honey that contains 30 percent or less sugar residue; honey mixed with high-fructose syrup at a 50-50 rate; and artificial honey made from syrup and flavoring.
According to an examination by Yilan University professor Chen Yu-wen (陳裕文) in 2012 and 2013 of honey products sold in Taiwan, more than half of the products on the market belonged to the latter three grades.
The association said that higher concentrations of sugar residue in honey occurs when beekeepers feed bees with syrup or sugar water during the rainy or dry season, adding that the third grade of honey is the most financially viable.
However, Chen said that the latter three grades of honey can only be properly determined under scientific examination.
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