Big demand for honey in Turkey; But capacity issues threaten supply

A Turkish company is finalising discussions with authorities from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), to import about 25,000 metric tonnes (MT) of the product from the country on a monthly basis.

The company, Helal Aricilik, is requesting a total 150,000 MT of the honey per shipment but capacity challenges on Ghana’s side, has caused it to cut down its request to 25,000 MT per month, an amount honey producers in the country will still struggle to meet.

Mr Alptekin Duven, a board member of Helal Aricilik, said in an interview that his company was willing to visit the country upon invitation to broker a deal with the GEPA, the honey producers or any company interested in supplying the product to Turkey.

"We have a supply deficit here in Turkey and we are trying to bridge it by looking for other sources," Mr Duven said.

"We currently import from China, Iran and the rest but the numbers are not reaching what we want. Besides, the prices they offer us are not favourable. So we are coming to Ghana to be able to meet the numbers as well as get good prices," he added

Ghana's national output is currently at 52,000 MT per a year, of which about 80 per cent is consumed locally, data from the Federation of Ghana Beekeepers Association (FGBA) showed.

The company's interest in Ghana's honey was made known to the Director of Exports at MoTI, Mr Charles Folikumah, and the General Manager of the GEPA, Mr Stephen Normeshie, in Izmir, Turkey, where the two are leading a Ghanaian delegation to participate in the 83rd edition of the Izmir International Trade Fair.

The fair opened on August 29 with participants from across the world showcasing their products to the thousands of Turkish and other nationals thronging the event grounds daily.

Fourteen Ghanaian businesses from the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, cosmetics and sports marketing sub-sectors of the economy are participating in the six-day event.

Honey industry 

The business of honey production is relatively young in the country having been left unexplored over the years.

Beekeeping, from which we get honey , is also a less patronised venture which makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to attract the right funding from financial institutions and state-sponsored credit providers to fund the growth and expansion of their operations.

This is reflected in the small-sized nature of businesses in both the beekeeping and honey production business.

Although the FGBA boasts of over 7,500 members from 34 different groupings, the association is still not able to fully exploit the county's honey production potential currently estimated at 500,000 MT per annum.

"A lot of the challenges have to do with getting right equipment such as the hives. If we get enough support to acquire these equipment, then we can increase output," Mr Samson Wuni Moari, the Executive Director of the FGBA and Managing Director of Somi Honey, one of the producers, said in an interview.

"We have people willing to do the work but they also need to be supported," Mr Moari added.

The way forward

Although Mr Folikumah and Mr Normeshie of the MoTI and GEPA are yet to assess the real capacity of the honey industry in Ghana, the two admitted the country's output will not be able to meet the Turkish company's demand.

Mr Normeshie said the authority would ensure that the opportunity did not slip.

"The volumes that they are talking about, we don't have yet but what we will do is to go back and organise the small holder producers to be able to get the numbers. If we organise them to do group marketing, its likely we will be able to meet," he said, and added that authority would also work with its partners to organise capacity building trainings for the producers.

Although funding has been a challenge to business operations in the country, the Director of Exports at the MoTI said, "but with this order, we should be able to convince the Export Development, Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) to come in and support them build the necessary capacity and expand their businesses."