The Manufacturing Process
Whakaari International has 3 experienced beekeepers that service over 1,200 hives and produce between 20-40 metric tons of UMF honey per year. Our hives are mainly located on lands owned by Maori. Harvesting takes place in January/February of each year. Boxes are taken from the hives and transported to our extraction plant based on Ngarue Road at the base of Tihirau the large land mass sitting at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Plenty.
At the extraction plant a team of locals work to extract the honey from the frames and store them in 44 Gallon drums. Harvesting honey not a job for the faint-hearted and is a labour-intensive activity. Boxes can weigh up to 25 kilograms in a heavy harvest and from 1,000 hives there may be as many as 2,000 boxes shifted from the field to the Extraction Plant.
Once the honey has been harvested, the product is transported to our bottling plant in Whakatane. It is stored at this location and bottled as required. From here, test samples are sent to the laboratory to measure the level of Unique Manuka Factor in the honey. The higher the UMF level, the more valuable and sought after it is.