In the first half of 2009, the average price of honey was US$ 2.47 per kilogram. During the period, the lowest price was recorded in the state of Minas Gerais (US$ 2.17 per kilogram) and the best price was charged by the states of Mato Grosso (US$ 2.90 per kilogram) and Ceará (US$ 2,89/Kg).
The United States was the leading buyer of honey from Brazil. The country purchased the equivalent of 64% of product exports (US$ 24.86 million). The second leading target country for Brazilian honey was Germany (US$ 8.16 million). Next came the United Kingdom (US$ 3.15 million) and Canada (US$ 1.31 million).
The figures were culled from a survey conducted by the analyst of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), Reginaldo Resende.
The reference used was the Internet-Based Foreign Trade Information Analysis System (Alice-Web), an arm of the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), which, in turn, is a branch of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
According to Reginaldo, the results achieved in the first half this year are atypical. "This boom in the first months of the year is different from what has been verified in the entire history of the sector. Everything leads us to believe that during the period, the market was increasing its inventories of honey. The demand for the Brazilian product was strong, particularly due to drought in Argentina and the disappearance of bees in the United States and Europe," he explains.
Last month, exports totaled US$ 5.137 million and 2,069 tons. The result is higher than recorded in June 2008, with growth of 19.9% in revenues and of 24.5% in shipped volume. In comparison with the month of May, there was a reduction of 35.6%, in value, and of 32.7%, in weight.
Sebrae