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Beekeeping
Some figures about the Beekeeping industry in Australia
Bee Hives registered: 673000 producing Honey, Queens and package Bees, Pollen, Propolis and Royal jelly.
Great emphasize now on crop pollination, refer to http://www.honeybee.org.au/economics.htm Chapter 6.
Commercial industry: 467000 operated by beekeepers with a minimum of 200 hives each. About 9,600Apiarists.
Honey production: Average from 20-30000 tonnes per annum, 41% form NSW, Victoria 19%, Queensland 15%, South Australia 13%, Western Australia 8% and Tasmania 4%
Average production per hive: 118 kg
Export: Between 9000 to 12000 tonnes per annum
Gross Value (All sectors): between 60 to 65 Millions A$ per annum, A$49 million from Honey industry.
Registered hives, Australia : by State (number)
| State |
|
|
| NSW Queensland Victoria South Australia Western Australia Tasmania AUSTRALIA |
78,857 73,057 59,700 36,837 9,184 466,684 |
130,723 119,551 77,100 52,328 15,213 672,557 |
Tasmanian data from the industry (Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association)
Honey production, Australia : by State (tonnes per annum)
| State |
|
|
| NSW Queensland Victoria South Australia Western Australia Tasmania AUSTRALIA |
5,520 5,115 4,180 2,580 645 32,675 |
16.9 15.6 12.8 7.9 2.0 100.0 |
New South Wales is clearly the largest single source of honey in Australia.
Queen and package bee producers. In commercial honey production, the usual practice is to replace the queen bee in a hive every eighteen months. While half of the total replacement queen requirement is usually met by breeding within the commercial operation, the remaining queens are purchased from specialist breeders. On this basis, and assuming a total population of 467,000 commercial hives (see Table 1), an annual demand for around 155,670 queen bees each year can be estimated. In addition, specialist operators provide entire colonies, termed package bees, for supply to producers who require re-stocking - with most demand for package bees now coming from overseas markets.
If you would like to inquire more: http://www.honeybee.org.au/economics.htm
