Demand for honey increasingly met through imports as U.S. production plateaus

U.S. imports of honey have surged by 73 percent in the last 10 years, reaching a near-record 433 million pounds in 2020. While domestic honey production has remained stable at around 156 million pounds per year, American consumers’ taste for honey and honey-sweetened products has grown. Imports now comprise a majority of total U.S. honey supplies. In 2020, imports accounted for 70 percent of total honey available for use in the United States, up from 54 percent in 2010. Since 2010, leading suppliers of imported honey by market share have varied, with Vietnam rising to the top position in 2020, followed by Argentina, India, Brazil, and Ukraine. Combined, these top 5 suppliers represented 88 percent of all imports in 2020. The growing volume of imports in the U.S. honey market has not been without controversy. In April 2021, U.S. producers filed anti-dumping petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against several top supplying countries. The preliminary ruling found reasonable indication that imports of raw honey from Argentina, Brazil, India, Ukraine, and Vietnam allegedly sold in the United States at less than fair value have materially injured the U.S. honey industry. The Department of Commerce will issue a report containing its preliminary anti-dumping duty determinations on honey imports later this year. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service’s (ERS) Sugar and Sweetener Outlook, June 2021. See also ERS report, Honey Bees on the Move: From Pollination to Honey Production and Back, published in June 2021.

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