Mexico Ranks Ninth Globally in Honey Exports

Mexico is strengthening its honey industry as rising production and exports coincide with efforts to add value to melipona honey through Geographical Indications and stronger traceability. The development matters for beekeepers, agricultural producers, and exporters, particularly in Yucatan and Campeche, where native-bee honey faces market, environmental and production challenges while offering opportunities in domestic and international food, health, and cosmetics markets.

Mexico ranks as the world’s ninth-largest honey exporter, accounting for a 3.8% share of global exports, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER). Between 2021 and 2025, Mexico exported an average of 27,200t of honey annually, representing a value of US$94 million, according to data from the Ministry of Economy and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Honey exports continued to increase between 2024 and 2025, rising from 20,000t to 26,000t. In the latter year, Mexican honey reached consumers in 30 countries. Germany and the United States remained Mexico’s main trading partners and priority destinations for honey, jointly accounting for more than 63% of the total value exported last year. They were followed by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, and Poland.

As part of National Bee Day, commemorated on Aug. 17, the Mexican government highlighted the economic, environmental and productive importance of these pollinators, whose work is essential to maintaining ecosystem balance, food production, and the well-being and economic development of thousands of families.

In addition to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, Mexico is home to 46 species of stingless bees, also known as meliponines, belonging to 16 genera across the country. Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, and Quintana Roo are the states with the highest number of species. Based on records from the General Directorate of the Agri-Food and Fisheries Information Service (DGSIAP), Mexico has 2.2 million honeybee colonies and 6,775 stingless-bee colonies.

The country also has 34,699 Livestock Production Units dedicated to beekeeping and 221 focused on meliponiculture. With this infrastructure, national honey production reached 60,297t in 2025, a 5% increase from the 57,430t recorded in 2024 and an 11.4% increase compared with the 54,122t produced in 2020.

According to the National Honey Traceability System (RASMIEL) and the National Service for Agro-Alimentary Public Health, Safety and Quality (SENASICA), honey production involves 53,000 producers. In 2025, the five leading honey-producing states were Yucatan, with 9,893t; Chiapas, with 6,071t; Jalisco, with 6,029t; Campeche, with 5,653t; and Veracruz, with 5,297t.

Yucatan Promotes Melipona Honey

During the event “Strengthening Traditional Mayan Beekeeping and Meliponiculture: With Mexican Honey, We Sweeten the World,” held in Yucatan, Columba López, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, recognized rural and Indigenous communities for protecting bees and passing their knowledge on to future generations.

She also highlighted that meliponiculture represents an important form of self-employment for thousands of women in the peninsula, allowing them to support the well-being of their families and communities. In this regard, in coordination with the state government, SADER delivered 17 kits, each consisting of an extraction shelter, an extractor, funnels and stainless-steel strainers, to groups of Mayan women engaged in meliponiculture. The agency also provided individual support to 500 women as part of efforts to promote good production practices, biosecurity and animal welfare.

Joaquín Díaz, Governor of Yucatan, says that the state is working to obtain a Geographical Indication for melipona honey. This designation would provide official recognition and protection for the origin, authenticity, quality, and cultural value of honey produced by native bees. He further notes that the initiative could open access to national and international markets in segments such as gourmet foods, natural health products, and cosmetics, while being supported by measures to strengthen food safety, traceability, and good production practices.

“Promoting the strategy to obtain the Geographical Indication for melipona honey from southeastern Mexico means that the honey produced by our native bees will receive official recognition of its origin, authenticity, quality and cultural value. It means legal protection against imitations and misuse of the name,” says Díaz. He adds that, through coordination with the Mexican government, Yucatan will join the Cosechando Soberanía program, which will allow producers to access loans of up to MX$1.3 million for infrastructure, equipment, and inputs. 

César Abarca, Director General of Development and Innovation, SADER, says that Melipona beecheii is one of the most emblematic species because of its strong biocultural value for the Maya, who have protected the bees to this day to produce a honey with highly distinctive characteristics, including medicinal properties.

As part of the commemoration, a series of activities were held, including an exhibition, a honey products market, a children’s workshop, a beehive demonstration and a gathering of women producing melipona honey. Support was also provided through the State Beekeeping Renaissance Program.

The State Beekeeping Renaissance Program benefits 655 producers across 19 municipalities through an investment of nearly MX$20 million. Beekeeping in Yucatan involves more than 9,000 producers, who sustain an activity of significant economic, social, environmental and cultural value.

Campeche Seeks Geographical Indication

Campeche is also working on a strategy to obtain a Geographical Indication for melipona honey. In July, the state held its first meeting on the initiative, bringing together state and federal institutions, academics, as well as organizations and producers involved in meliponiculture. The meeting resulted in the definition of three strategic areas for developing the process. The first is technical and scientific, aimed at generating the information needed to characterize Campeche’s melipona honey. The second is legal and intellectual property, focused on preparing the documentation required to register the Geographical Indication. The third is productive, aimed at strengthening the organization and participation of meliponiculture producers throughout the process.

The designation is expected to strengthen Campeche’s position in the market and create better opportunities for meliponiculture producers in the state. Currently, much of the honey produced in Campeche is collected by companies from neighboring states, which are able to obtain greater commercial value because of their customers in Europe and the Middle East. As a result, these companies pay higher prices than those received directly by Campeche producers.

In addition, producers face challenges such as deforestation and the use of pesticides and agrochemicals. These practices, carried out by agricultural and livestock producers, make it more difficult to maintain their apiaries. According to Juan Martínez, Director of Beekeeping, Campeche’s Ministry of Agricultural Development, the number of beekeepers in the state has declined considerably in recent years, falling from 10,000 to around 7,000 beekeepers operating across the region.

In response, Martínez noted that training is being promoted to improve hive management, honey harvesting and the annual replacement of queen bees. These measures could increase bee populations and raise production. He also explained that rainfall recorded in recent months has favored the flowering of various plants and helped extend the harvesting season in several regions of the state, which could benefit honey production this year.