FLORIDA: Honey production in 2001 was 22,000,000 pounds, down ten percent from 2000. Florida ranked third in production behind California, and North Dakota. There were 220,000 colonies in Florida in 2001 with an average honey yield of 100 pounds per colony, five pounds per colony less than the previous year.

  Producers received an average of 62 cents per pound for the honey, up eight cents per pound from the previous year. The value of Florida honey production in 2001 was $13.6 million, up from the 2000 value of $13.2 million.

UNITED STATES: Honey production in 2001 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 186 million pounds, down 16 percent from 2000. There were 2.51 million colonies producing honey in 2001, down four percent from 2000. Yield per colony averaged 74.0 pounds, down 10.1 pounds from the 84.1 pounds in 2000. Colonies which produced honey in more than one State were counted in each State so yields per colony may be understated. Colonies were not counted if honey was not harvested. Producer honey stocks were 64.8 million pounds on December 15, 2001, down 24 percent from a year earlier.

  Prices for the 2001 crop averaged a 66.9 cents per pound, up 12 percent from 59.7 cents in 2000. Prices are based on retail sales by producers and sales to private processors and co-ops. At the State level, prices reflect the portions of honey sold through retail, co-op and private channels. At the U.S. level, prices for each color are derived by weighting quantities sold for each marketing channel. Co-op and private prices were higher for all color classes except 'Other Honey' in 2001.

BEES AND HONEY: Number of colonies, production and value, Florida and United States 1996-2001
Year	Honey
	Colonies of bees 1/	Yield per colony	Production	Price per pound	Total value	Stocks on hand
	1,000	Pounds	1,000 lbs	Dollars	1,000 dollars	1,000 lbs
FLORIDA
1996	240	105	25,200	.860	21,672	2,268
1997	240	67	16,080	.730	11,738	2,734
1998	230	98	22,540	.640	14,426	4,508
1999	228	102	23,256	.530	12,326	4,186
2000	232	105	24,360	.540	13,154	2,923
2001	220	100	22,000	.620	13,640	3,432
UNITED STATES
1996	2,581	77	199,511	.888	177,166	47,206
1997	2,631	75	196,536	.752	147,795	70,696
1998	2,633	84	220,316	.655	147,254	80,808
1999	2,688	76	205,250	.601	126,075	79,375
2000 2/	2,620	84	220,339	.597	132,742	85,328
2001	2,513	74	185,926	.669	127,060	64,750
1/ Producers with five or more colonies. 2/ Revised.

UNITED STATES: Honey prices by color class and buyer, 2000 and 2001 harvests
Color class	Co-op and private		Retail		All
	2000 1/	2001	2000 1/	2001	2000 1/	2001
	Cents per pound
Water white, extra white, and white	56 .3	65 .0	114 .5	125 .4	58 .2	66 .5
Extra light amber	56 .0	64 .0	121 .7	130 .7	60 .7	66 .9
Light amber, amber, and dark amber	49 .8	59 .8	141 .9	152 .2	60 .1	66 .6
All other honey, area specialties	63 .2	59 .8	175 .2	152 .5	92 .9	78 .7
All honey	55 .1	63 .3	130 .4	140 .6	59 .7	66 .9
1/ Revised, includes honey produced in 1999 that was sold in 2000.