May Report
Business Plans
So, what to expect, and what to do this honey season. With prices at best flat, and not looking very promising for the near future, and even with consumption strong, though most of that is from off shore, what should you expect this Summer? That’s what we asked our reporters this month, and the responses were less than exciting. For good reasons we suspect.
First, what kind of demand for their honey were they anticipating this year. More, less or the same? Well, only 47% were expecting an increase, while the remaining 53% expected it to be business as usual. Regions 1 and 3 expressed the most increase in demand, especially region 1 with nearly 70% expressing confidence in rising demand this Summer. Region 6, on the other hand was just the opposite, with only 40% thinking sales may increase. Interestingly, across all regions, nobody felt demand would decrease.
Will retail honey prices increase this year? Only 28% plan to increase their prices, while 72% will keep them the same. Region 7 was the most aggressive, with 50% feeling prices need to go up. Interestingly, Region 1 was 2:1 to keep prices the same, even with increased demand.
Because of the demand expectation it should come as no surprise that two thirds of our reporters won’t be ramping up production this year, and only 61% will be expanding their operations. Region 3 is the exception to both of these though, with 50% planning to both increase production and expand their operations. Pretty much everybody else falls in to the two thirds:one third grouping though. There were more reporters thinking of downsizing their operations than we’ve seen in the past, but it’s still under 10%, so I guess we’re safe for a bit yet.
