NY Honey Release - March 2007

NEW YORK HONEY PRODUCTION DECREASES

Honey production from beekeepers with five or more hives in New York totaled 3.84 million pounds during 2006, according to Stephen Ropel, Director of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office. This total is down 12 percent from the 2005 production of 4.38 million pounds.

The 2006 production was extracted from 60,000 colonies, unchanged from the 60,000 colonies in 2005. Honey yield per colony averaged 64 pounds, 12 percent below the 2005 yield. Honey stocks on hand across the State as of December 15, 2006 totaled 2.46 million pounds, an increase of 6 percent from the 2.32 million pounds a year earlier.

Prices received by beekeepers in New York averaged $1.38 per pound for all methods of sale during 2006, 13 percent more than the 2005 average price. Value of honey production for the State in 2006 totaled $5.30 million, compared with $5.34 million in 2005.

Nationally, honey production in 2006 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 155 million pounds, down 11 percent from 2005. There were 2.39 million colonies producing honey in 2006, down 1 percent from 2005. Yield per colony averaged 64.7 pounds, down 11 percent from the 72.4 pounds in 2005.

U.S. honey 2006 prices increased to $1.042 per pound, up 14 percent from 91.8 cents in 2005. Prices are based on retail sales by producers and sales to private processors and cooperatives. State level honey prices reflect the portions of honey sold through retail, co-op, and private channels. Honey prices for each color class are derived by weighting quantities sold for each marketing channel. Honey prices for 2006 were up from the previous year for all color class totals. The information in this release is available by free email subscription by subscribing to New York reports at www.nass.usda.gov/ny.

HONEY: Number of Colonies, Yield, Production, Stocks, Price, and Value,
by State and United States, 2006 1/

State	Honey Producing Colonies	Yield per Colony	Production	Stocks Dec. 15 2/	Average Price per Pound 3/	Value of Production
	1,000	Pounds	1,000 Pounds		Cents	1,000 Dollars

AL	11	72	792	230	146	1,156
AZ	30	65	1,950	839	139	2,711
AR	32	76	2,432	730	105	2,554
CA	380	52	19,760	7,706	98	19,365
CO	36	75	2,700	1,458	139	3,753
FL	170	81	13,770	1,790	101	13,908
GA	63	74	4,662	746	116	5,408
HI	10	93	930	233	119	1,107
ID	95	44	4,180	2,592	86	3,595
IL	10	66	660	356	188	1,241
IN	6	54	324	107	151	489
IA	26	84	2,184	1,441	115	2,512
KS	14	55	770	246	140	1,078
KY	5	56	280	70	220	616
LA	30	90	2,700	675	89	2,403
ME	11	23	253	86	200	506
MI	72	55	3,960	2,099	128	5,069
MN	125	80	10,000	3,300	89	8,900
MS	14	98	1,372	453	105	1,441
MO	15	46	690	117	149	1,028
MT	132	79	10,428	1,981	100	10,428
NE	47	73	3,431	3,843	104	3,568
NV	9	37	333	50	355	1,182
NJ	9	36	324	152	115	373
NM	7	48	336	104	96	323
NY	60	64	3,840	2,458	138	5,299
NC	10	50	500	215	156	780
ND	350	74	25,900	7,770	90	23,310
OH	14	56	784	282	145	1,137
OR	46	48	2,208	729	111	2,451
PA	28	40	1,120	605	161	1,803
SD	225	47	10,575	10,575	82	8,672
TN	7	55	385	58	184	708
TX	82	70	5,740	976	87	4,994
UT	23	50	1,150	265	105	1,208
VT	6	56	336	144	121	407
VA	8	42	336	114	219	736
WA	49	52	2,548	1,605	119	3,032
WV	5	42	210	57	195	410
WI	64	93	5,952	2,500	114	6,785
WY	39	85	3,315	497	88	2,917

Other States 4/ 5/	17	43	726	274	269	1,951

US 5/	2,392	64.7	154,846	60,528	104.2	161,314

1/ For producers with 5 or more colonies. Colonies which produced honey in more than one State were counted in each State. 2/ Stocks held by producers. 3/ Prices weighted by sales. 4/ CT, DE, MD, MA, NH, OK, RI, and SC not published separately to avoid disclosing data for individual operations. 5/ Due to rounding, total colonies multiplied by total yield may not exactly equal production.