Mānuka Trade at Record High as Exports to US Surge 1,000t

New Zealand retail pack monofloral mānuka honey exports to the United States climbed 54.1% to 2,862 tonnes in calendar year 2025, an increase of 1,004t over the year-before volume. The surge into the US lifted global exports in this category to an annual record 6,999t and contributed most to matching the previous record export volume of 12,732t set in 2020 for all honey types. Bruce Roscoe presents an analysis of the trade data and reports on a survey of US consumers that shows only 30% recognize New Zealand as the origin of mānuka honey.

By Bruce Roscoe

“Big Box” retailers played a major role in record-levels of mānuka honey sales into the USA in 2025.

Move to centre stage, US. Take a back seat, China. That is an aerial view of the theatre of New Zealand’s mānuka honey trade. It was by design. The UMF Honey Association had prioritised the US as the market that offered most promise for mānuka export growth. Honey packers in agreement crisscrossed the Pacific, fronting trade shows and presentations. Some stay-at-home brands have appeared to fizzle. 

The US China role reversal has been extreme. In the six years to 2025, exports of monofloral mānuka product to the US grew nearly threefold to NZD112.1m while those to China grew 3.4% to NZD44.1m. (Counting begins from 2019 because that is the first full year for which export statistics for monofloral and multifloral mānuka honey are available).

Tables 1-2 show the 2019-2025 trend in the rising US share in volume and value for monofloral mānuka honey exports. A comparison between 2019 and 2025 prices for the top 10 markets is shown in Table 3. By volume the US share has doubled to 40.9% and by value almost doubled to 33.4%.

Untamed volume growth comes at a low price. At NZD39.18 per kilogram, the FOB export price for the US is second lowest to Australia (NZD38.17) among the top 10 markets.

In the retail pack multifloral mānuka category, the US again is the standout. Volume in this category shipped to the US pole-vaulted 4.4x to 769t from 2019-2025 while share expanded to 31.6% from 10.0%. Value grew to NZD18.3m from NZD6.3m. The FOB price at NZD23.85 for 2025 was seventh-lowest among the top 10 markets and a 33.4% decline on the NZD35.84 recorded in 2019. (See tables 4-6).

Other export markets have a lot to write home about, too. Again in the retail pack monofloral mānuka category, volume to Japan lifted 29.2% to 685t; United Kingdom, 23.0% (565t); South Korea, 50.2% (290t); Netherlands, 16.1% (166t), and Canada, 93.6% (100t). The per kilogram FOB values for Japan (NZD51.66), UK (NZD56.30), and South Korea (NZD54.22) exceeded that for the US by 31.6%, 43.4%, and 38.1%.

The uptick in the UK will go some way to mitigate the value lost to bulk monofloral mānuka exports to that market. But the UK habit to pack from low-cost raw material may be hard to break. Bulk exports in this category to the UK grew 10.1% to 846t on a 12.8% value decline to the near subterranean NZD14.94 per kilogram. That volume increase against value decline continued a deep-set trend. The 2024 bulk monofloral mānuka volume shipped to the UK increased 7.1x to 718t from the 2019 volume of 107t on a 53.4% price collapse to NZD17.13 from NZD36.74 per kilogram. 

Bulk monofloral mānuka exports to Germany leapt 47.2% to 400t while retail pack monofloral mānuka fell 33.3% to 277t. Germany at NZD34.41 per kilogram returned more than double the value of the UK bulk market.  Germany and UK absorbed 71.1% of total bulk monofloral mānuka exports.

Back to the Future

None of the data cited in this report represent the sale of mānuka honey in any market. Packers have exported the volumes only in anticipation that they will meet expected demand. If the demand does match the supply, where does that leave the industry and its unknown inventory quantity? In a way, the industry has run a marathon in order to stand still. The average FOB price of NZD37.65 per kilogram for all honey types in 2025 is virtually unchanged from the NZD37.79 recorded a decade earlier in 2016.

Overlay a list of the largest economies by GDP (gross domestic product) on the top export markets for mānuka honey and the top five are the same countries, with the exception of India. That may change as the FTA (free trade agreement) with the world’s fifth-largest economy delivers on promise. Move UK up one place to fifth, for now. But the culturally closest markets — exemplified by Australia, UK, and US — return the lowest value. Reversing the commoditization of mānuka may require the development of markets outside comfort zones. 

Consumer Recognition

Only 30% of US consumers can recognize NZ as the country of origin of mānuka honey, according to a survey commissioned by the Mānuka Charitable Trust (MCT).

MCT has presented the survey to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in support of its 11 Dec. 2024 application for a certification trademark for MĀNUKA accompanied by a tohu in the shape of a stylized letter M.

The survey, dated 31 Oct. 2025, was conducted by Harper Litigation Consulting and Research LLC of Texas. It is printed on pages 61-141 of the 141-page 10 Dec. 2025 filing by MCT with USPTO and billed as an “Expert Report”.

The USPTO examiner may find that the survey data contradict the report’s conclusion. The report states: "The study found that Manuka honey has 53% awareness and, of those, 30% associated it with coming from New Zealand". It then concludes: "Based on the survey results, a significant percentage of consumers believe Manuka honey comes from New Zealand..."

Citing the survey, MCT in its filing states: “…the term “MANUKA” is viewed by US consumers as referring to honey that is sourced in New Zealand…”

That ambitious interpretation is tempered by the finding that 35% did not know the country of origin. Moreover, 33% identified countries other than New Zealand as the origin (Australia, Hawaii, Japan, Alaska).

Tequila Sunrise

In the same USPTO filing, MCT detours south of the border to Mexico where it learns that USPTO has registered Tequila as a certification trademark. MCT believes it could “certify” mānuka honey in the same way as Consejo Regulador del Tequila, A.C. certifies that Tequila is distilled from the blue tequilana weber variety of agave plant.

Although MCT’s US trademark application appears buffeted by trade winds blowing across the Pacific from the northeast, the surging mānuka honey volumes entering the US are clearly encouraging local companies to ride the waves and attempt to trademark “manuka” in unbecoming ways.

It is part of MCT’s mission to oppose such attempts. Following the 5 January opposition filed against Caravan Honey Company’s “THE MĀNUKA EFFECT”, which is used to market a suite of cosmetics that contain mānuka honey supplied by Comvita, MCT on 19 February filed two further oppositions — one against “BETTER THAN MANUKA” (MDM Wound Ventures, Inc., TX) and the other against “MANUKAMEND” (Allen Kamrava MD MBA Inc., CA).

Note – All export statistics referenced in the text and tables of this report are sourced from the Infoshare website of Statistics New Zealand.

Bruce Roscoe is a Japan-resident researcher and former foreign correspondent and securities analyst.

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