Australian Manuka Honey in India

Many Indians (including me) probably don’t give our immune system a second thought until we feel unwell. Then we start thinking about ways to give it a helping hand. But actually, wouldn’t it be better if we shored up our immune system so you avoided coming down with bugs in the first place? Prevention is, after all, better than cure. However with the pandemic , Indians are increasingly becoming pro-active when it comes to their health, as compared to just being reactive earlier.

Honey by far is the most commonly trusted ancient food to increase immunity in India.. I still remember how joyous my mother would be to find a fresh honeycomb being harvested and ensuring that we get a bottle of honey. The reasons being that it was fresh and the presence of dubious “fresh & pure” honey brands selling in the market. Gone are the days as we have new players, stringent FSSAI standards, and the honey market in India has taken a quantum leap in terms of productions and exports. However, with the rising honey awareness and increasing disposable income, this has also opened a new yet niche market for Manuka Honey in India.

Australian Manuka Honey in India

Over the last 15 months, we have been actively working with retailers, importers and Australian exporters to steadily increase the number of Australian Manuka Honey brands in India. Although it’s still a small number if compared to Australian exports to other markets such as China, you would find around 6 Australian Manuka honey brands at any given point selling in leading gourmet chains or E-commerce platforms such as Amazon or Flipkart. Most of them are actively using digital marketing including social media, while some are also selling via B2C platforms in India. The growth looks promising given we just had one Manuka Honey brand selling 15 months ago. Check below some of the Aus Manuka Honey selling on Amazon India.

The future looks sweet

The Manuka Honey market in India is still at a niche stage and caters to the premium end of consumers only. With Indians increasingly paying attention to their health and increasing immunity, the Manuka Honey market is expected to grow in the coming years. India is placing its bets on becoming a large exporter of honey and will continue to target the other mass consumer segement.

The kicker for Australian companies will be to continue engaging the premium Indian consumers, as we hope to have the first-mover advantage when the Manuka Honey market mushrooms in India to its full potential.

Yaser Siddiqui is a Director at Austrade, working with Australian companies to export food, wine, health & beauty and fashion products to South Asia. As well as having an MBA in International Business, he has over 8 years of marketing and business development experience, working across several industry sectors in South Asia. When not working, you can find him creating new business and marketing content, collecting matchbox covers (yes you read it correct) or playing Peekaboo with his 2.7 year old!