1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



41 



Crop and Market Report 



Compiled by M. G. Dadant 



For our January market page we asked the following 

 questions of our contributors: 



1. How much honey remains on hand in your section? 



2. How is the demand? Local? Wliolesalc? 



3. At what price is honey being offered? At what price 

 sold? 



4. How did bees go into winter quarters? 



HONEY ON HAND 



There seems to be very little honey left in the New 

 England States and the bulk of the crop has moved in New 

 York and Pennsylvania, except with some of the large 

 producers, who have from 20 to 50 per cent on hand. 

 Practically the whole crop seems to have moved in the 

 Southeastern States, and at fair prices. In Texas there 

 is not a great deal of honey left, probably 10 to 20 per 

 cent would cover it. The Central States, including the 

 States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri Kansas 

 and Nebraska, have disposed of a majority of their honey 

 in a retail way. There are, of course, still a number of 

 large producers who are holding a part of their crop, but 

 there seems to be no inclination to a very large drop in 

 prices to dispose of it. In Michigan practically all the 

 small producers have sold their crop and some of the 

 large producers are out. A majority of the big beekeepers, 

 however, have probably SO per cent or more of their honey 

 on hand. The same is true in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 There are varying reports from Colorado and the Inter- 

 mountain States. Probably a majority of the beekeepers 

 within the Association have disposed of their honey, es- 

 pecially the combs.. Throughout the whole territory there 

 is possibly 30 to SO per cent left in the hands of the pro- 

 ducers. In Montana honey has moved very well and 

 there is probably not 20 per cent of the crop left. The 

 Idaho crop seems to have moved a little slower, as did 

 that of Utah and Nevada. Washington and Oregon seem 

 to be cleaning up pretty well on their honey. The re- 

 ports from California are conflicting. Some of the large 

 beekeepers have disposed of their entire crop, others 

 have from 2S to 40 per cent on hand. The Association 

 there is making an extensive campaign and should have 

 no trouble in disposing of the output of its members. 



DEMAND FOR HONEY 



Throughout the whole country the wholesale and job- 

 bing demand for honey seems to be still slow, with prob- 

 ably considerable improvement over when our last report 

 was written. 



Throughout the eastern half of the country the retail 

 demand is good and those who have made any campaign 

 for pushing the local sales have gotten rid of their honey 

 without difficulty. Within the last week or ten days there 

 seems to have been a quickening of the demand on the 

 part of the wholesalers. This is probably due to the 

 fact that retailers are asking for holiday stocks and as 

 the wholesalers' holdings are light, it is necessary for 

 them to restock. 



PRICES OF HONEY 



The honey price is holding up very well. The lowest 

 prices suggested by any of the reporters was 16c for 

 white honey, and many have written that they have dis- 

 posed of their crop at from 18 to 20c. Theie were one or 

 two suggestions that a drop of 2S per cent over last year's 

 price might be necessary in order to dispose of the bulk 

 of the crop. 



Texas honey is selling for 14 to 16c for extracted. Other 

 southern honey seems to be moving at about the same 

 figure, with a tendency to cut the price 2c or more in 

 order to make quick sales. 



One Iowa reporter suggests he will let loose of the bal- 



ance of his honey for 19c for extracted and 6.S0 per 

 case for comb. The majority of reports, however, sug- 

 gest a wholesale price of 20c per pound for best white 

 extracted honey. 



The honey of the Inter-mountain territory is mostly 

 extracted, practically all the comb having been disposed 

 of. Most of this honey is being held at a price of from 

 17 to 20c per pound for the best white extracted, with 

 a few sugestions on the part of the large producers that 

 they would accept 12c for amber and ISc for white to 

 dispose of their whole crop. 



One of the Idaho reporters suggested ISc for carload 

 lots of white honey, whereas practically all reporters 

 from Montana desired a higher price, approximately 18c 

 for extracted and $7 per case for comb. 



The California Association is holding to its prices, 

 based at about 14c to 18c, depending on the grade. 



CONDITION OF THE BEES 



There is a remarkable unanimity on the part of all 

 reporters in stating that bees are in excellent shape and 

 should winter very well through having large amounts of 

 stores and plenty of young bees. Usually at this time of 

 year there are many reports of colonies going into winter 

 short of stores, but the fall of 1920 seems to have been 

 especially good for filling up the brood-chambers of the 

 colonies. There is also the fact that the beekeepers were 

 able to obtain sugar more readily and feed more plenti- 

 fully. 



SUMMARY 



The California Association has just put on a big cam- 

 paign for honey-selling, with considerable advertising, 

 and feel that they should have no difficulty in disposing of 

 their crop at the prices they have been asking. Although 

 there is a slight tendency on the part of some beekeep- 

 rs to cut the price to make sales, the general inclination 

 ■on the part of all is to hold for a price of at least IS to 16c 

 for white extracted honey, with 2 to 3c per pound less 

 for amber. Some sales are reported for amber honey as 

 low as 10 to lie in carload lots. It seems that the honey 

 crop should move fairly well at remunerative prices, pro- 

 viding some section of the country does not break the 

 market by offering large lots at a very low price. This 

 might necessitate other communities also unloading with 

 a very demoralizing influence on the general honey mar- 

 ket. There has been very little cold weather, so far, and 

 therefore the honey demand has not been so large as it 

 would have been with a hard winter. One thing which 

 has helped push the market down is the fact that there are 

 large quantities of West Indian honey coming into the 

 different ports. We have an offer of West Indian honey 

 put up in SO-gallon new gumwood barrels at 7Sc per gal- 

 lon f. o. b. New York. This is a price of less than 7c per 

 pound. Of course this is a very inferior honey, probably 

 which cannot rank with any of our domestic product. 

 Still it can be used in certain lines to compete with our 

 amber honey and, therefore, it has a depressing influence 

 on the market. We can see no reason for demoralization 

 at present, hut conditions do suggest two things neces- 

 sary. One is that the beekeepers will have to push harder 

 on local sales, and those who are sold out should deem it 

 their duty to buy more honey to help reduce the supply. 

 The other necessstiy is for some thorough advertising 

 campaign caried out co-operatively, which will bring 

 honey before the people and create a demand. When we 

 realize what a small amount of honey is used per capita in 

 this country we can see that there would be no trouble in 

 disposing of the whole of the present crop at excellent 

 prices, with a proper marketing and advertising organi- 

 zation. The development of the Honey Producers' League 

 should certainly be a great help. 



