An update this week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) stated that, “United States honey production in 2016 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 162 million pounds,up 3 percent from 2015. There were 2.78 million colonies from which honey was harvested in 2016, up 4 percent from 2015. Yield of honey harvested per colony averaged 58.3 pounds, down 1 percent from the 58.9 pounds in 2015.”
The NASS update noted that, “Producer honey stocks were 41.3 million pounds on December 15, 2016, down 2 percent from a year earlier. Stocks held by producers exclude those held under the commodity loan program.”
“United States honey production in 2016 from producers with less than five colonies totaled 766 thousand pounds, up 6 percent from 2015. There were 24 thousand colonies from which honey was harvested in 2016, up 4 percent from 2015,” the report said.
The NASS report added that, “United States honey prices decreased during 2016 to 207.5 cents per pound, down slightly from 208.3 cents per pound in 2015.”