China demand boosts new export item beeswax prices

The beeswax, a new export item of Mandalay this year, fetches good prices due to high demand from China, said U Soe Win Myint, owner of Soe Win Myint Wholesale Centre in Mandalay.
The honey production period is in Tazaungmone and the bees build nests on the hills and forests across the nation. Besides the production of honey, the people produce beeswax from honeycombs and it gets K10,000 per viss in the market because of high demand from China.
“We produce beeswax using the honeycombs which is the waste of bee nests after honey production. The beeswax market emerges in Mandalay in 2022. This year, honey makers can make extra income. Beeswax is used in producing the Myanmar traditional medicine, balm. We don’t know how they are used in China. Although China didn’t buy a large amount of beeswax in previous years, they purchase as much as they can this year. It can be exported as a new export item,” he explained.
There are two kinds of beekeeping – bees that make beehives naturally and bees that are farmed. The beeswax from natural bees is priced at K10,000 per viss and the beeswax from the farm is K7,000 per viss. Natural beeswax gets higher prices in the market, it is learnt. – Min Htet Aung (Mandalay Sub-Printing House)/GNLM