More rules mulled for ma¯nuka honey
Government investigates tougher controls for honey on local market
The Ministry for Primary Industries wants feedback on whether the honey produced and sold in New Zealand should meet similar requirements to exported ma¯nuka honey given some of the domestic supply ends up overseas.
Since February, all exported ma¯nuka honey must meet a specific definition to support authenticity as the “high price that ma¯ nuka honey commands around the world has exposed the sector to scrutiny from overseas consumers, media, and regulators”, MPI said in a discussion document.
“We are now considering whether to apply the same science definition to New Zealand ma¯nuka honey sold on the domestic market,” it added.
According to MPI, evidence suggests a significant amount of export honey is sold as ma¯nuka, with prices ranging from $12 per kilogram to more than $140 per kilogram.
Alongside the global demand, there is also a premium price attached to ma¯nuka honey sold in New Zealand, MPI said. In the year ended June 30, 2017, the price of bulk light clover honey was between $10 and $14 per kilogram. The price for ma¯nuka honey ranged from $10-to-$127 per kilogram.
While the science definition for ma¯nuka honey has provided confidence in the authenticity of New Zealand product for overseas consumers and trading partners,
“the same level of assurance is not available for New Zealand ma¯ nuka honey sold domestically as it is not required to be scientifically tested before being sold,” MPI said.
It said not all honey currently labelled as ma¯nuka would meet the science definition and therefore there is a risk that consumers could “purchase mislabelled honey”, despite current protection for domestic consumers under New Zealand legislation. MPI also noted it is “highly likely that ma¯ nuka honey sold on the domestic market ends up overseas, either because it is purchased by overseas visitors who take it offshore, it is purchased in New Zealand and sent through the post, or it is traded through online sales platforms”. If this honey was tested offshore and failed to meet the science definition, it could diminish trust in the regulatory system, it said.
“This could be seen as undermining the general assurance we give to our export markets and call into question the authenticity of A home-grown hotel business is about to go global, with its New Zealand-headquartered founder planning to expand his successful chain further nationally then into Australia and Fiji.
Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala, the Auckland-based founder of the Sudima Hotels and Resorts national chain, has seven hotels either operating or about to be developed. He now has plans to build others in Wellington, Queenstown, Sydney, Melbourne and Fiji.
“We’re planning these new hotels but it’s a longer-term plan,” Jhunjhnuwala said, citing the Australian hotel projects as being worth more than $200 million each and in the CBDs of the two cities.
The entrepreneur said the plans were for about the next five years through to about 2023 and he had targeted those geographic areas “as a natural progression of the business. Our next steps is to Australia and the islands. It was a natural next progression after Wellington and Queenstown to go to Fiji, Sydney and Melbourne.”
Each of the five new hotels would have about 150 rooms and the Suva hotel would be aimed at the corporate market, he said. Room rates were currently in the $250/night region here while Australian rates for similar hotels were now more in the A$300/($327) a night range, he said.
The existing portfolio of Sudima hotels already developed was worth about 300m, he estimated.
Jhunjhnuwala outlined a relatively lowly-geared financial strategy: “We are very conservative and well within our banking covenants,” he said, telling of a 40 per cent debt-to-equity ratio in the business with borrowings solely from the BNZ. That bank might need to syndicate some loans as Sudima grew, he said.
On July 19, he announced plans for a new $70m 10-level Sudima hotel on the site of the former Datacom House, in the corner of Wellesley St and Nelson St in Auckland’s CBD, across from the NZ International Convention Centre. About half the development cost would be borrowed, and building consent was already granted.
Sudima bought the site in November from a private investor for $12.25m, he said. our other exported products.”
Submitters have been asked to respond to a series of questions, including whether New Zealand consumers and businesses do not currently have certainty on what regulators consider constitutes ma¯nuka honey and whether they agree with the assumption about ma¯ nuka honey that is sold in New Zealand making its way to overseas markets.
It has proposed two ways the science definition could be applied, either a voluntary standard or a mandatory standard.
Submissions can be presented until 5pm on September 17 and the Government will make a summary of information received public and use submissions to inform further analysis, MPI said. A series of public meetings will also be held. The site slopes and cars will come in from one street but leave from another. No construction company has yet been appointed.
A company statement said: “The new Auckland CBD hotel is Sudima Hotel’s seventh investment in New Zealand hotels and infrastructure, adding to the hotel brand’s nationwide presence with properties at Auckland Airport, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Christchurch Airport along with the in-development $40m Christchurch CBD hotel due to open in early 2019 and recently announced $30m Kaikoura hotel scheduled to open in the summer of 2019/2020.
“Sudima Hotels’ current hotels in-development represent an investment of $135m across the country, adding approximately 400 rooms to the national accommodation stock, and around 190 additional jobs.”
Sudima Hotels is owned and managed by the entrepreneur and property investor.
Meanwhile, plans for another Auckland hotel were revealed last week. Abhijay Sandilya, InterContinental Hotels Group Australian and South Pacific senior director of development, said a 225-room Indigo Hotel was planned for 51 Albert St.
“The resource consent for the site had a 46-level building approved but the scale will be reduced and it will be a lower building,” he said, telling of a 2021 opening.
“We’ll be targeting the corporate traveller, with a mix of international and domestic travellers.”
The facade of the heritage Macdonald Halligan Motors building would be retained, he said. The Indigo chain has 88 hotels around the world, plans to build five in Australia and is eyeing Queenstown.
Dean Humphries, Colliers International’s national hotel director, welcomed the new developments, with Peter Wall also telling of a possible new hotel in a mixed-use development at 13 Albert St and 9 Wolfe St although Wall stressed concept planning was not complete.
Humphries said: “There will also be a few more major announcements of new hotels in coming weeks, so it’s great to see so much new development in this sector; provided they can find companies to build them.”