Coronavirus: UK shopper buys $62,000 worth of rare mānuka honey as demand surges
ESTHER TAUNTON
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Somewhere in Northland, bees are busy making a honey so sought-after one shopper bought $62,000 worth in a single transaction at UK department store Harrod's.

While the exact location of the True Honey Company's hives is a closely guarded secret, the popularity of its Rare Harvest mānuka honey is spreading like wildfire.

The Harrod's sale, involving 25 jars of Rare Harvest honey at more than $2500 each, might have been "one of note" for an individual customer, but business has boomed since the outbreak of coronavirus, chief executive Jim Mcmillan said.

“We've experienced a significant uplift in demand for premium honey from around the globe.

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“There is a pretty strong correlation between the health benefits of mānuka honey and Covid-19,” he said.


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The coronavirus pandemic has led to increased global demand for health foods and mānuka honey, known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, is caught up in the surge.


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True Honey chief executive Jim McMillan says demand for mānuka honey has spiked after the coronavirus outbreak.
The spike in demand for its honey was so strong that while many other businesses struggled to stay afloat during lockdown, True Honey took on 18 new employees at its Dannevirke facility.


About 40 more were hired by two Auckland businesses providing packaging and other supplies to True Honey, McMillan said.

“We've been working flat out, doing whatever we can to try to keep up with orders, but we still have a bit of a backlog.”

Rare Harvest has the highest unique mānuka factor (UMF) ever produced at 31+, more than six times the UMF of some mānuka honeys commonly sold in supermarkets.

UMF denotes the level of purity of the active properties of the honey.


STUFF
Businesses are going to great lengths to keep fake honey off the market.
McMillan said the increasing global awareness of New Zealand and its mānuka honey presented a real opportunity for “NZ Inc”.

“We've put a lot of time and effort into crafting a business that can offer a premium, 'best in class' product with a real focus on the New Zealand brand,” he said.

“There's an opportunity now, while consumers are looking for those pure and healthy primary products, for New Zealand to really set itself apart.”


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The location of the True Honey Company's hives is top secret.
However, it was also important the Ministry for Primary Industries and wider government took steps to protect the country's international reputation, particularly around mānuka honey.

"MPI developed and enforce a robust definition of what mānuka honey actually is. Producers are bound pretty tightly by that and personally, I'm very supportive of it.

“But the Government has a responsibility now to educate consumers about what that is and to make sure when we send bulk drums of honey to countries with no definition of mānuka, it reaches consumers in the same state as we ship it in.”