Wed, May 12, 2021 page5

• Australia, New Zealand clash over manuka label

  • AFP, SOMERSBY, Australia
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  Beekeepers in New Zealand are seeking the exclusive right to use the “manuka” label for their honey, pitting them against rival Australian farmers over a prestige product that can fetch hundreds of dollars per jar.

  Manuka honey takes its name from the Maori term for Leptospermum scoparium, the flowering shrub whose nectar forms its essence, which is found in Australia and New Zealand.

  However, Australian production could soon be dealt a heavy blow, with a group of New Zealand producers launching proceedings in multiple countries to register the term “manuka” and claim its exclusive use.

  If they are successful, it would be devastating for Australian producers like Ana Martin and Sven Stephan.

  Last year they bought land where a crop of L scoparium was growing in Somersby, about 100km north of Sydney, installing about 50 hives on the side of a hill.

  The couple have almost 300 hives across several locations along the coast of New South Wales.

  “Being a beekeeper is a seven-day-a-week job and the returns are limited,” Martin told reporters. “With manuka though, the margins are greater.”

  They sell their honey directly at markets and increasingly now, over the Internet.

  At the end of the first season at Somersby, they collected 2.5 tonnes of manuka honey, Martin said.

  Online, a 250g jar sells for US$20 to US$60, depending on its composition — although some higher-end brands can cost hundreds.

  However, the New Zealand producers behind the move to register the term “manuka” complain that Australians misuse the name.

  “In the mind of the consumer, manuka represents a badge of origin that it comes from New Zealand,” Unique Manuka Factor Association spokesman John Rawcliffe told reporters. “Manuka is a Maori word.”

  Australian beekeepers use the name “manuka” for all varieties of L scoparium, of which there are 80, Rawcliffe said.

  “This is misleading and misrepresents the product sold,” he said. “It’s like calling all citrus fruits lemons to get a higher market price.”

  Protected status by geographical designation is common in Europe, where products such as champagne and Parma ham fall under the EU’s Protected Food Names scheme — which proponents say helps maintain high standards for consumers.

  However, Australian producers deny that there is a difference in the quality of their honey.

  “Our honey has the same chemical composition as New Zealand honey,” Australian Manuka Honey Association president Paul Callander said.

  He also dismissed the heritage argument.

  “It’s proven that Australia has been producing manuka honey since at least the 1840s,” Callander said, adding that “manuka” is the common name for L scoparium in Tasmania and Victoria.

  The New Zealand government is financially supporting the producers’ legal proceedings, which have been launched in China, the US and the EU.

  It is a source of concern for the Australians, who have had to fund their counter-appeals in New Zealand and the UK themselves.

  Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan recently proposed a trans-Tasman summit to his New Zealand counterpart to try and establish grounds for the two countries to work together on the issue.

  Rawcliffe is not against the meeting, but for him the question of use of the term manuka is non-negotiable.

  Callander’s position is equally intractable.

  “We will never stop using the term manuka. It would take years for consumers to familiarize themselves with a new term and would cost us millions of dollars,” Callander said.

  Martin and Stephan bemoaned the lack of cooperation.

  “We could all be making more money if we stick together and start a process for joint certification,” Stephan said. “Right now there’s 10 times more manuka honey sold in the world than is produced. The amount of counterfeit honey is enormous.”

  “Also, the Americans have recently started to produce manuka too,” he said. “That’s the real threat.”
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