Bay of Plenty Business News May/June 2018

6 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS May/June 2018
COVER STORY
Honey business a sweet
challenge for Bay family
For Tauranga honey processors and
beekeepers the Mossops, the adage
about how well you do in a bad season
being what really counts, has held true
over the past years.
By RICHARD RENNIE
The family has experienced
and survived the
impact of earthquakes,
good and bad honey seasons,
a major fire, market uncertainties
and varroa mite - and that’s
just since 2000.
But today they are looking
to a bright export future as
the world gains an increasing
taste for quality New Zealand
honeys, and the company has
international clients in 12
countries.
The company celebrated
its 70th year in business in
2017, and is co-owned by Neil
Mossop and his wife Wendy,
who bought it from Neil’s
father Ron in the 1980s.
“We have been able to manage
our way through each of
these challenges,” said Neil.
The Mossops are watching
with interest the release
and impact of the new MPI
Manuka Honey Standard,
which aims to determine the
purity of Manuka honey and
theoretically to eliminate poor
quality Manuka blends entering
the marketplace.
To date, all tests Mossops
have had done on their vari-
ous grades of Manuka honey
have passed the new standard,
which they say is a tremendous
reassurance for all their
New Zealand international
customers.
Wendy Mossop said the
family has also closely followed
the research work done
on Manuka honey’s health-giving
benefits, and continue to
trial its application in other
products, including cosmetics
and cough lozenges.
“Our focus on providing a
consistently high quality product,
with minimal stirring or
treatment, has lent Mossop’s
honey a different texture to
most commercial honeys, and
earned many dedicated customers
in New Zealand and
around the world,” she said.
Mossops had its origins
in Ron’s backyard interest in
beekeeping, and now employs
much of the family, along with
35 staff from their Tauranga
base, and owns thousands of
hives spread throughout the
North Island.
Neil Mossop said he
believed being a strong family
company of integrity and
high ethics, and not a large
investor-owned operation centred
only on quick profits for
Duane, Neil, Wendy and Ryan Mossop: Growing customer
base in New Zealand and around the world. Photo/Supplied.
off-shore investors, definitely
helped weather the tough times.
As the rush to Manuka
honey production has surged
through the industry, Mossop
said the Mossop family had
managed to focus on retaining
their valuable relationships
with landowners in remote
parts of the country, where
they have kept hives for years.
“We have always placed
a lot on being honest and
upfront with the farmers and
landowners we deal with,”
said Mossop.
“And they have appreciated
that over the years as more
and more people have come
knocking on the door wanting
to put hives on their land.”
The Mossops have often
helped improve the quality
of the properties where they
have placed hives by putting
in access roads and tracks with
their own earthmoving equipment,
to better locate the hives.
But Mossop said he was
concerned expectations among
many land owners have been
pushed too far by promises of
Manuka returns that are well
beyond what are realistic.
This has also prompted the
family to invest in acquiring
more Manuka blocks to secure
a more consistent supply of
the honey. They have found in
the current market it is more
economically viable to buy
properties than pay the leasing
prices demanded by some
landowners.
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