Bees are industrious workers that under the right circumstances create a deliciously sweet and 100-percent natural bounty – honey.

HONEY offers sweet rewards to those who cultivate it, says a spokesperson from the Myanmar Apiculture Association. How sweet exactly? Well, the spokesperson said exports this year are expected to hit US$2 million and should increase in coming years.

The spokesperson said that about 200 tonnes of honey were exported from the start of the financial year on April 1 to the end of September, with a total of $100,000 already earned from these sales.

However, he said the next few months would be a hive of activity.

“We are expecting to produce about 2000 tonnes of honey this year, which is about double what we cultivated last year. We expect to be able to earn as much as $2 million by exporting this honey abroad,” he said.

Japan is Myanmar’s largest honey buyer and he said that the association even has unfulfilled orders from that country, which wants to buy at least 1000 tonnes this year alone.

Unfortunately, there’s just not enough honey yet; the total current capacity is about 1500 tonnes, of which 1000 tonnes is supplied by private producers and another 500 tonnes from government suppliers.

He added that only 950 tonnes were exported last year, which earned about $950,000. In addition to this amount were the 100 tonnes of honey consumed by the domestic market, he said.

And feeding the increased exports has been an expanding number of beehives: In the 2007/08 year association figures show that there were about 25,000 commercial beehives in Myanmar. But in this fiscal year there are some 35,000, an amount that’s expected to increase in coming years.

The reason for these increases in production and the number of beehives is simple – international honey prices have been increasing.

“In past years, honey was only about K300 a viss (1 viss equals 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds), which was far below the production cost. But prices have gradually increased and more people have been actively working to keep beehives to produce honey,” he said.

Honey prices are now K1400 to K1600 a viss, which makes honey a much sweeter prospect for producers.

He said that the association even has unfulfilled orders from Japan, which wants to buy at least 1000 tonnes. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough honey yet; the total current capacity is about 1500 tonnes, of which 1000 tonnes is supplied by private producers and another 500 tonnes from government suppliers.

Myanmar first started developing commercial beehives in 1979.