Honey buyers scarce

[enrico]

My honey is not selling as quickly as usual. I have had to raise the prices this year but I think people are not buying luxury items as much!
The silver lining is that it wont sell out quite so quickly so I wont get quite so many people knocking on the door asking if I have any left!

 

[The Poot]

Ah, just hang on until the ypsilon variant is announced in the Autumn, then the customers will come flooding back....

 

[Murox]

My honey is not selling as quickly as usual. I have had to raise the prices this year but I think people are not buying luxury items as much!
The silver lining is that it wont sell out quite so quickly so I wont get quite so many people knocking on the door asking if I have any left!

Well If you have too much - send a couple of 15kg buckets up to me, I don't often get a 'spring crop' until after the bramble has bloomed I went as far as North Norfolk on this years travels and was really struck by the comparative abundance of really good forage.

 

[ericbeaumont]

honey is not selling as quickly as usual

My sales almost doubled during lockdown and have returned to slightly higher than pre-Covid levels at the North London farmers' market I attend every fortnight. I now aim for £400 for a 4.5 hour market; market commission went up from 10 to 12.5% last year.

Prices increased late last year from .0264 p/g to .0274 p/g, rounded up to £9.50/340, £6.50/235, £3.75/135. I fill the two smaller hex jars to 235 and 135 because standard 227 and 113g of honey does not fill far enough into the neck of these sizes.

There are two ways honey sales could go during the energy crisis: reduced spend on luxuries overall, or a cut back on the big ones - Netflix, gyms, holidays - and continued sales of smaller treats that cheer the soul.

 

[nettle]

I don't often get a 'spring crop' until after the bramble has bloomed I went as far as North Norfolk on this years travels and was really struck by the comparative abundance of really good forage.

You're in Scotland aren't you? That's reassuring. Everyone's talking about their big spring yields, and I've got nothing like that happening up here yet! There's enough coming in to keep the bees going, but so far they're not filling any supers. Patiently hoping...

 

[Ian123]

Just got off the phone with 1 old bee farmer…..can’t keep up with the bottling. It’s hay fever season.

 

[enrico]

My sales almost doubled during lockdown and have returned to slightly higher than pre-Covid levels at the North London farmers' market I attend every fortnight. I now aim for £400 for a 4.5 hour market; market commission went up from 10 to 12.5% last year.

Prices increased late last year from .0264 p/g to .0274 p/g, rounded up to £9.50/340, £6.50/235, £3.75/135. I fill the two smaller hex jars to 235 and 135 because standard 227 and 113g of honey does not fill far enough into the neck of these sizes.

There are two ways honey sales could go during the energy crisis: reduced spend on luxuries overall, or a cut back on the big ones - Netflix, gyms, holidays - and continued sales of smaller treats that cheer the soul.

£9.50 for 12oz they are baulking at £6 here!

 

[enrico]

Just got off the phone with 1 old bee farmer…..can’t keep up with the bottling. It’s hay fever season.

Funnily enough they have been my main buyers!

 

[enrico]

Well If you have too much - send a couple of 15kg buckets up to me, I don't often get a 'spring crop' until after the bramble has bloomed I went as far as North Norfolk on this years travels and was really struck by the comparative abundance of really good forage.

Never have too much I am afraid. Well not yet anyway!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

£9.50 for 12oz they are baulking at £6 here!

Well, he does live in a parallel universe within the bounds of the M25

 

[user 3509]

Have not been able to take off a spring crop yet but the customers are queueing up to buy it as soon as we have any!!

 

[pargyle]

£9.50 for 12oz they are baulking at £6 here!

There is a world of difference between a London farmers market and at the gate sales in Hampshire. We are also inflicted by a local beekeeper with a lot of hives selling 'Local Honey' which gets retailed in a variety of local shops for £5 for a 1lb jar .... it's been at that price for nearly 10 years. I've taken over a couple of retailers that used to be supplied by him and I know there's a bit of resistance to their 'new' pricing at £5.95 for Hex 12 oz jars ...but I'd sooner not supply than distress my product by dropping the price.

Plus, there are some current economic factors influencing all retail purchases at present. My regular customes don't seem to have dropped off but they are mostly people who can afford to be discerning. I had a conversation with one customer, who I know is less well off, as she was saying her finances are stretched and she admitted that she was now buying supermarket honey for cooking but said she would not entertain anything other than my honey for her toast and in her yoghurt. She was gracious enough to say she was sorry and that the cheap stuff doesn't compare in taste to mine ... What can you do except to wish them well and accept the situation ? I will still sell everything my bees produce.

 

[Ian123]

My local butcher on the Surrey Berks boarders is getting £8 per 12oz and comb is £1 per oz….plenty of others getting similar.

 

[pargyle]

My local butcher on the Surrey Berks boarders is getting £8 per 12oz and comb is £1 per oz….plenty of others getting similar.

Yes ... it's a rich area isn't it ? Stockbroker belt .... My local butcher sells lovely meat but he's 20-30% more than the supermarkets. He's always busy but his customers are those people who are rich enough to be discerning about the quality and provenance of the meat they buy .... stand and watch for half an hour and the vast majority arrive in Chelsea tractors or newish quality cars ... you don't need a degree in social anthropology to know that these are people who are not on the breadline. But he also stocks 'Local honey' selling at £5 a pound and I know he sells a lot ...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

yep, my local butcher who sold good quality meat (but nowhere near the top end) has closed his doors, around here people are living on the breadline with the only booming industry being food banks. as soon as they feel the pinch the first thing they walk away from is family butchers.
People who can afford good quality meat can also afford to drive to Llandeilo (the mecca for all things twee) where they have a choice of three quality butchers.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

On FB a newcomer to Lincolnshire asked why honey prices were so low having moved from Derbyshire. I posted the following showing that Lincolnshire is one of the poorest places in northern Europe. (One very local beek is selling unlabelled jars for £3.75/lb)
Sold 12? jars @ £5/lb in 2 hours at local car boot sale on Sunday. " £400 for a 4.5 hour market " - good lord!

 

[enrico]

On FB a newcomer to Lincolnshire asked why honey prices were so low having moved from Derbyshire. I posted the following showing that Lincolnshire is one of the poorest places in northern Europe. (One very local beek is selling unlabelled jars for £3.75/lb)
Sold 12? jars @ £5/lb in 2 hours at local car boot sale on Sunday. " £400 for a 4.5 hour market " - good lord!
View attachment 32089

Unlabeled jars

 

[rossbyjove]

My sales almost doubled during lockdown and have returned to slightly higher than pre-Covid levels at the North London farmers' market I attend every fortnight. I now aim for £400 for a 4.5 hour market; market commission went up from 10 to 12.5% last year.

Prices increased late last year from .0264 p/g to .0274 p/g, rounded up to £9.50/340, £6.50/235, £3.75/135. I fill the two smaller hex jars to 235 and 135 because standard 227 and 113g of honey does not fill far enough into the neck of these sizes.

There are two ways honey sales could go during the energy crisis: reduced spend on luxuries overall, or a cut back on the big ones - Netflix, gyms, holidays - and continued sales of smaller treats that cheer the soul.

'market commission' ?
Is that a fee on top of the stall price or is that the total cost ?

 

[rossbyjove]

On FB a newcomer to Lincolnshire asked why honey prices were so low having moved from Derbyshire. I posted the following showing that Lincolnshire is one of the poorest places in northern Europe. (One very local beek is selling unlabelled jars for £3.75/lb)
Sold 12? jars @ £5/lb in 2 hours at local car boot sale on Sunday. " £400 for a 4.5 hour market " - good lord!
View attachment 32089

Inner London is a separate country really.
At least we are the best at being the poorest in Northern Europe.
That's showing 'em !!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Inner London is a separate country really

I think the word you want is 'planet'