[Ted]

OK , you lie to your Friends and Ill lie to my Friends but lets not lie to each other..........
What is the price of honey in the drum (55 gal), are the packers having there own way with the beek, or we Finley getting a fair price for the fruit of our labor

 

[The Honey Householder]

Produced over 8 ton last week and it all sold for $1.85 in the barrel. Orders are backed up for the next two weeks and still taking orders. Might have to raise the price or I might run out again before Oct like last year. I've been in the business for 30+ years and when it comes to honey price I don't lie.

 

[Mike Snodgrass]

Honey householder, you could have made 6 times what you made if you had sold retail! Of course, im baseing that on what lots of folks are saying here on what they get for honey retail. Do you choose to sell wholesale because of less costs or is more the work of setting up retail involved?

 

[Trevor Mansell]

Last I heard the price of white is $1.60 and ELA is $1.50.

 

[jmgi]

Honey householder, you could have made 6 times what you made if you had sold retail! Of course, im baseing that on what lots of folks are saying here on what they get for honey retail. Do you choose to sell wholesale because of less costs or is more the work of setting up retail involved?

When you produce honey by the ton instead of pounds like HoneyHouseholder, you can't retail every last drop of it, just too much work. I think its better to sell at 1.85/lb. in the drum now, because when the packer finds out how big this year's crop is going to be, he won't be paying anywhere near that price, JMO.

 

[sqkcrk]

Believe it or not, the size of the crop doesn't determine the price. There is more too it than that, I believe. Certainly, not when there is a crop faliar or a bumper crop in one state or another, that doesn't influence the price that packers are willing to pay. Unless it's a cpl of the top ten states, like the Dakotas, FL and CA. A boom or bust in all of those states might influence what packers will pay. But only if Argentina has a poor or good crop.

I don't sell in barrels, usually. I might this year, if everything goes the way it looks like it could.

What are you seeing for price, Ted? have you had any quotes from packers? Or just third hand info?

 

[Barry Digman]

This is just a wild guess, but I'm betting the largest honey producer in Ohio knows something about whether to retail or wholesale his product.

 

[Johnny]

Can you imagine trying to bottle/sell 16000 1lb bottles (8tons) of honey. And that's what he produced last week! Something tells me he's not done for the year.

John

 

[Mike Snodgrass]

I agree Barry and Johnny...Im just trying to learn something. And if its that i have a thick head then fine, at least i learned it! Question is though, Doesnt anybody sell these volumes retail or do they leave it to packers? Thanks

 

[Beeslave]

Most of the honey producers I know that operate 800 or more hives will sell most of their honey by the drum to other packers ( large and small ). Once you are operating that many hives the quantity of honey produced creates another full time job bottling and delivering. Most of the large producers will sell small volumes of their honey bottled but there is not enough hours in the day to do it all.

As for the price of honey- Yesterday I wholesaled 60 5 gal pails(56lbs net ea) at $1.65 lbs plus I charged him double what I paid for the pails(I got a great deal on them). I gave him that price a month ago and I know I underpriced it a little but the guy is a repeat customer.

I've been hearing packers are paying $1.60-$1.65 for White-ELA

 

[jmgi]

I'm only going to produce about 1 barrel this year, and will squeeze every last penny out of it at retail.opcorn:

 

[Barry Digman]

I agree Barry and Johnny...Im just trying to learn something. And if its that i have a thick head then fine, at least i learned it! Question is though, Doesnt anybody sell these volumes retail or do they leave it to packers? Thanks

Mike, I don't think you're thick-headed and your questions are perfectly legitimate.

Although I can't say that no one is doing it, selling tons and tons of honey at retail is something that would require remarkable locations with a lot of traffic and huge numbers of return customers. When I think "retail", I'm talking about the growers markets, roadside stands, county fair, and other events where you can set up a stand and sell honey that you've produced and packed yourself. Additionally, I'm only including packaging of perhaps as much as a 1 gallon jug.


If I'm wrong and there are folks who are selling upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars per year at retail perhaps they would be gracious enough to share their stories?

 

[sqkcrk]

If I'm wrong and there are folks who are selling upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars per year at retail perhaps they would be gracious enough to share their stories?

So you can move in right next to them? Don't hold your breath.

What about the other half of Ted's question? Are packers finally paying beekeepers what it costs them to produce it?

 

[jean-marc]

Naw, probably a penny or two less than what it costs them to produce. Not so low that it completely discourages them and yet 2 cents less than the cost of production to keep them hungry. That way they can get more work out of them.

Jean-Marc

 

[sqkcrk]

So, are you saying that it costs $1.50/# to produce a lb of honey?

 

[merdoc]

The last time my dad sold honey was early 80s.If I rember right honey was 35 to 45 cents I thought it was around 1.00 now days of course back then we only had afb and bears to worry about.I hope these prices hold for yall and im surprised the us hasant found away to send bees to china and sell honey back to us good luck all.

 

[Dancing Bee Apiary]

Anyone in Ontario out there? Just wondering what to get for my barrel honey here. Not too many large producers around here.
Thanks

 

[Roland]

$1.70 last time I sold.

There are very few successful operations that have commercial bees, and a bottling facility. It takes two different management styles for the different activities. The charismatic ability to successful market large amounts of packaged honey are talents that are often not found in the individual that must rely on the weather and other uncontrollable factors for a living. Those marketing people are generally poor beekeepers(the charisma is lost on the bees), and the persistent and persevering solitary beekeeper is better with bees thanpeople. However, I believe a the successful commercial producer/packer has been done before, and will be accomplished again.



Roland Diehnelt

 

[The Honey Householder]

To big to retail. Only so many hours in a day. Where do you think beekeepers get their local honey when they retail 7-8 ton a year.

 

[Countryboy]

Householder produced 49 tons last year, and it was a bad year. That's roughly 100,000 pounds.

He averages producing 47 or 48 pounds of honey per hour, 40 hours a week, for a year.

How much time would you have to develop a retail market if you were producing 50 pounds an hour full time?