Kopemat Aims To Penetrate Competitive Honey Market

Source from (Bernama): http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsbusiness.php?id=691248

Published: September 02, 2012

By Ibrahim Abu Bakar

KUALA TERENGGANU, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Koperasi Pemungut Madu Lebah Asli Terengganu Bhd (Kopemat) aims to be actively involved in penetrating the competitive local honey market this year.

The co-op, which was set up last year, acted as an agent to help honey collectors market their honey.

Its deputy chairman, Ibrahim Ismail, said the co-op needed a revolving capital of at least RM100,000 initially to achieve its aim.

"What has become a problem of Kopemat now is that the honey output in Terengganu is not consistent. This could be due to the weather and the honey prices also move up and down," he told Bernama here today.

Ibrahim said Kopemat usually bought up to RM250,000 worth of honey from the collectors in Terengganu.

However, this year's output has declined and Kopemat bought less than 500 kg from the collectors in the state.

"The decline in honey output not only happened in Terengganu but also in other states.

"Previously, we will be able to collect eight metric tonnes of honey each season," he said.

He said Terengganu's honey fetched between RM40 and RM50 a bottle and the most popular was the Tualang honey.

Ibrahim said Marang produced about 80 per cent of the honey in the state.

"This is because the district has Gelam and Akasia trees which attracted the bees," he said.

He said the bees were usually active in producing honey between June and November and during these months the honey collectors would be very busy.

"After that they would have to find other jobs like fishing or farming," he said.

Ibrahim said Terengganu has about 600 honey collectors and only 70 of them were members of the co-op.

"Currently, the co-op is undertaking a campaign to attract more honey collectors to become its members. They only need to pay RM10 fee," he said.

-- BERNAMA