The New Zealand Government is reported to be mounting a controversial trademark application for manuka honey that could mean Australian producers are locked out of the lucrative China market.
Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters, ABC Australia and others reported earlier this week that the New Zealand Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor had confirmed that an application has been (to Beijing’s Intellectual Property Court), commenting in an email that “manuka is a brand that has been developed and valued and promoted from New Zealand and it should remain that way”.
The development represents a widening of New Zealand’s push to secure exclusivity of use of the term manuka. In December 2017 NZ producers strengthened their position in the valuable UK market when the country’s trademark registry granted the New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society a certification mark for the term manuka honey.
John Rawclife, a spokesperson for the group, told ABC that “the definition of manuka in Australia is far too broad, and their honey comes from a whole range of species – that’s not helpful, and it could be seen as fraudulent”.
New Zealand argues that the word manuka is a Maori term whose use should restricted to NZ products.
But Australian producers – who stand to lose A$1 billion ($677 million) in sales if they are shut out of the China market – see things rather differently.
Paul Callendar, president of the Australian Manuka Honey Association, told Reuters: “We have 84 species of the manuka plant (leptospermum) and one species in New Zealand which we strongly believe came from Australia.”
Ben McKee, CEO of Hive & Wellness Australia says he, and other Australian honey producers, want to “work with New Zealand producers to grow the whole market..and get rid of these stupid cases”. He also want to see his own government stepping in “to speak up for up for, and protect, our industry”.