Melita - The Land

The New Zealand honey industry has more than 800,000 registered hives and nearly 8000 registered bee keepers and produces more than 20,000 tonnes of honey annually, including approximately $00m of exports, in what is now called a $5 billion industry (products and pollination services).

Melita Group resulted from the strategic merger in 2016 of five bee keeping enterprises and three honey product brands to provide a platform for growth in production and exporting. “Melita” is Greek for honey. The group now has a land-to-brand story with integration from production to retail. The three families are the Jansons and the Barleys in Hawke’s Bay, and the Harveys in South Auckland. The combined operations now have 7,500 hives and premises in Hastings, South Auckland and Wanganui. Melita Honey in Hastings concentrates on manuka honey, while the Happy Valley business in Rosehill, near Drury, provides processing and packaging facilities, strong brands, export experience, and domestic retailing premises.

Melita is a family business. Leon Janson started beekeeping in 1959, and that is now continued by his son Gus, and grandsons, Hamish, Lars and Jules, in partnership with Richard Barley, also a director of the enlarged group. Melita Holdings was incorporated in September 2016 when the group merged together adding the Harvey Family history and Happy Valley to the group.  Mark Harvey is the Group’s CEO.

Melita employs up to 25 people during the high season as members of the beekeeping teams based in Hastings and Whanganui. Currently there are two skilled beekeeping Filipinos and other foreign nationals on working holiday visas in the extraction plant. The Janson family involvement is Gus, Hamish, Lars and Jules, along with a future son-in-law. Melita also employs two people in bulk honey sales, plus administration and extraction staff members. 

The leading product is manuka honey, accounting for around 80% of volume on average, guaranteed for its purity by the supply chain control, from hive placement through to honey extraction, quality testing, and slow and careful packing. All manuka honey is UMF certified. All honey has a scientific certification of origin and can be traced back to the original source, vintage and region using GPS records. Melita produces UMF 5+, 10+, 15+, 20+ and 24+ manuka honey, along with bush blend manuka, wild bush and wild pasture honeys.

Melita currently has around 7,600 hives, (the number having doubled over the past five years). It over-winters the hives from Feb/March to Oct/Nov in lowland sites in Hawke’s Bay and Whanganui, and these are their main honey collection districts in spring and summer. One-third to one-half of hives then go to kanuka sites during the spring build up, following which all hives are placed on manuka sites, as flowering proceeds from East Cape down to Wellington in the south. Manuka flowering takes a month in any one location and the hives are on site for up to two months, including a lead-up and a follow-up from alternative nectar flows. Site selection and production history are very important to the volume and UMF quality. “We know all the areas for good production, where manuka flows are most consistent, which are deep in the bush,” Lars said.

The New Zealand honey industry as a whole aims for around 30kg/hive of annual production but that can vary because of seasonal conditions and overstocking, leading to lower yields. Melita has recorded seasons over 40kg. New apiaries are being registered each year and the big risk is overpopulation and reduced yields. Melita plans to plant out a 200ha block at Pongaroa, filling in gaps and lifting the numbers of manuka trees.