100 | True Honey T T Emma Bailey Mānuka market showing signs of recovery Jim McMillan, the Founder and Chief Executive of the True Honey Co. The New Zealand mānuka honey market is showing signs of recovery after an oversupply saw the market crash, an industry insider says. Jim McMillan, the Founder and Chief Executive of the True Honey Co. is a pioneer in the field who has long held the belief that the land creates its own medicine and early on recognised the exceptional health benefits of pure, high-grade mānuka honey. He says that for the last three years, there has definitely been a surplus of bulk mānuka honey around the country. “Eight to ten years ago here in New Zealand demand well exceeded supply which pushed up wholesale prices. Then due to the low barrier to entry the number of beehives close to tripled in a short space of time which turned everything on its head and caused the market to collapse.” Based in Napier and Dannevirke, Jim McMillan and his company the True Honey Co. have been producing and exporting highgrade mānuka honey from the backcountry of New Zealand since 2016, with many of the hives in locations so remote they can only be reached by helicopter. Alongside offering some of the highest-grade honey mānuka honey in the world, they also sell a number of innovative wellness products including functional mānuka honey lozenges and sachets, combining ancient wisdom with modern science to harness the remarkable healing powers of honey. As Jim says “the industry has seen its fair shares of ups and downs, but today the future is looking positive, especially in the high UMF (unique mānuka factor) graded products.” A member of the UMF association which acts as quality control and assists with the promotion of New Zealand mānuka honey products worldwide, the True Honey Co. started out as a bulk producer, and from there evolved into their own highly sought-after premium brand. “Since Covid and in particular over the last 12 months we have started seeing increased demand, as consumers become more aware of the benefits of pure, potent mānuka honey and how it can enhance health and wellbeing.” The pandemic definitely caused a spike as consumers around the world were looking for products to increase immunity. “We had been seeing steady growth year on year and then it spiked during Covid causing TRUE HONEY panic buying of inventory. Post-covid saw a decline but we are definitely seeing some improvements now.” Thanks to an increasing global demand for natural health products, the True Honey Co. sells into numerous overseas countries including the Middle East, Europe and China. Here in New Zealand, Jim and his team work closely with several different owners of mānuka resource to produce high to ultra-high-grade mānuka honey from their whenua and deliver true transparency to the landowners they partner with. Jim believes that “if the mānuka industry can collectively work together to continue to build the credibility of New Zealand mānuka honey by investing in further research to validate the numerous benefits, and educate consumers around the world, there’s an exciting future ahead.”
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