Raw Honey Guide
Original research · n = 286 listings · 222 brands

No brand holds more than 2.1% of our honey catalogue.

We counted the brand behind every honey in our 304-listing catalogue, each one checked against a live product page on October 7, 2026. The 286 listings with a brand come from 222 distinct brands, and 180 of them (81%) appear exactly once. The largest, Ames Farm, has 6 listings (2.1%).

Catalogue-wide Herfindahl-Hirschman Index: 60. The 2010 FTC merger guidelines called any market below 1,500 unconcentrated. This index counts listings, not sales: it shows how spread out the producers in our catalogue are, not who sells the most honey.

Last updated:

Methodology at /learn/methodology · dataset CC BY 4.0 at /open-data

Total brands
222
286 branded listings
Single-listing brands
180
81% appear exactly once
Top brand share
2.1%
Ames Farm · 6 listings
HHI (catalogue)
60
2010 FTC unconcentrated < 1,500

18 varietal guide pages (for example clover honey) link to a representative product but are not one brand’s listing, so they are left out of every brand count on this page.

The long-tail curve

The five brands with the most listings hold 8.7% of branded listings; the top ten hold 14.7%. The top 100 of 222 brands hold 57.3%. The 180 single-listing brands together account for 62.9% of the catalogue’s branded listings.

0%25%50%75%100%131030100222Top-N brands (log scale)equal-share line2%6%9%15%22%40%57%100%

How to read this. The amber curve is the share of branded listings held by the top N brands, ranked from most to fewest listings. The dashed line is what you would see if every brand had the same number of listings. The curve sits only a little above it: no brand pulls away.

Every brand with three or more listings

10 brands have three or more listings and 32 more have two; every other brand appears once. 9 of the 10 are U.S. farms or beekeeping businesses, and each sells more than one variety: a brand shows up several times in this catalogue because it sells several of the varieties we cover.

  • #1Ames Farm6 · 2.1%USA · Buckwheat, Clover, Linden, Other, Wildflower
  • #2Airborne Honey5 · 1.7%New Zealand · Clover, Other
  • #3Bee Friends Farm5 · 1.7%USA · Other, Tupelo, Wildflower
  • #4Weeks Honey Farm5 · 1.7%USA · Avocado, Other, Wildflower
  • #5Honey Acres4 · 1.4%USA · Clover, Linden, Wildflower
  • #6Mitchem Bee Company4 · 1.4%USA · Orange Blossom, Other, Tupelo
  • #7The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective4 · 1.4%USA · Acacia, Linden, Other, Sourwood
  • #8Gil's Honey Bees3 · 1.0%USA · Buckwheat, Other, Wildflower
  • #9San Diego Honey Company3 · 1.0%USA · Avocado, Other, Sage
  • #10The Bee Charmer3 · 1.0%USA · Sage, Sourwood, Wildflower

Share = listings ÷ 286 branded listings. Second line: origin and the floral sources of the brand’s listings.

What this says. The brands we list most often each sell several varieties. The catalogue’s 16 branded Manuka listings come from 12 brands; none has more than two (Comvita, Egmont Honey, Manuka Health, Steens have two each).

Concentration, by origin

Origins with fewer than 10 branded listings show high HHI because we list only a few producers from each, so those bars describe our sample, not the country. Among origins with 10 or more listings, in order: USA (184), Other (321), Australia (703), New Zealand (754), Italy (1,074), Spain (1,400). All of them are below 1,500.

OriginHHI (log scale, 0–10,000)BrandsListings
  • USA
    184
    79123
  • Other
    321
    3233
  • Australia
    703
    1516
  • New Zealand
    754
    1927
  • Italy
    1,074
    1011
  • Canada
    1,358
    89
  • France
    1,358
    89
  • Greece
    1,358
    89
  • Spain
    1,400
    810
  • Brazil
    1,563
    78
  • Germany
    1,667
    66
  • UK
    1,667
    66
  • Mexico
    2,222
    56
  • Hungary
    2,800
    45
  • Turkey
    2,800
    45
  • Argentina
    3,333
    33
Unconcentrated < 1,500 Moderately 1,500–2,500 Highly > 2,500

“Other” pools the 35 listings from countries outside the catalogue’s 15 named origins (28 countries, from Albania, Austria, Bulgaria to Zambia).

HHI 60 on the scale

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index is the standard antitrust measure of concentration. For scale, here is our catalogue figure next to published or derivable market figures. The other rows are market shares; ours is a count of listings, so read the chart as scale, not as a market comparison.

  • Our catalogue (listings)60
  • US craft brewing top 50600
  • US wine retail600
  • 2010 FTC "unconcentrated" ceiling1,500
  • 2010 FTC "moderately concentrated"2,500
  • US soft drinks3,000
  • US smartphone OS (Android / iOS)5,089
  • Search engines (Google ~91%)8,300

What this says. Our catalogue sits far below every concentration line. That follows mostly from how the catalogue is built: one verified product per variety and region.

How to shop with this in mind

  • An unfamiliar brand is the norm. 81% of the brands in our catalogue appear exactly once. If you have never heard of a producer at a farmers market or co-op, they are like most of this list. Check the label for a named region or apiary, the floral source and the harvest season.
  • Supermarket brands are a different product. The names most U.S. shoppers know (Sue Bee, Local Hive, Nature Nate’s) are not in this catalogue, which lists single-variety and regional honeys.
  • Manuka is spread out too. Our 16 branded Manuka listings come from 12 brands and none has more than two. For Manuka, read the UMF or MGO grade on the label rather than the brand name.
  • European honey often carries a regional designation. Greek, Italian, Spanish and French honey is often sold under a protected regional name (Miel de Provence PGI, Miele della Lunigiana DOP). That designation tells you more than the producer’s name.
  • Search by variety and region. Use /browse to filter by floral source or origin, and /local to find producers in your state.

Known limits of this analysis

  • Curated catalogue, not a retail census. We add honeys one variety and region at a time and pick a product we can verify on a live product page. That method spreads listings across producers, so part of the low concentration comes from how the catalogue is built. It says nothing about the supermarket aisle, where a few national brands sell most of the volume.
  • Listings are not revenue. HHI and brand share here count listings in our catalogue, not sales or production volume.
  • Small samples below 10 listings. Argentina (HHI 3,333, 3 listings), Hungary (HHI 2,800, 5 listings), Turkey (HHI 2,800, 5 listings) reflect which producers we found, not the country’s honey industry.
  • Brand follows the label. If two brands share a parent company, we count them separately.
  • Snapshot, checked October 7, 2026. An earlier version of this page (May 2026) reported 168 brands across 210 listings from a catalogue that had not been checked against live product pages. Those figures are withdrawn; every number here is recomputed from the verified catalogue.

Frequently asked questions

What does an HHI of 60 mean?▾
The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index adds up each brand's squared share in percent. One brand with everything scores 10,000; two equal brands score 5,000. The 2010 FTC and Justice Department merger guidelines called a market below 1,500 unconcentrated. Our catalogue scores 60: 286 branded listings spread over 222 brands, with no brand above 2.1%. It is computed from listing counts in our catalogue, not from sales, so it says how spread out the producers we list are, not how the honey market's revenue is divided.
Why does the largest brand have only 6 listings?▾
Ames Farm has the most listings, 6 of 286 (2.1%), because we list several of its varieties. 42 brands have two or more listings and 180 have exactly one. We add honeys variety by variety and region by region, choosing a product we can verify on a live product page, so a brand appears more than once only when it sells more than one of the varieties we cover.
Is this a reflection of the whole honey market?▾
No. The catalogue is a curated list of 304 honeys, built one variety and region at a time, and that method spreads listings across producers by design. Supermarket brands such as Sue Bee, Local Hive and Nature Nate's are not in it. The numbers describe the producers behind the honeys we list, not who sells the most honey.
Why is the USA the most fragmented origin with the most listings?▾
The USA has 123 branded listings from 79 brands. Its largest brand holds 4.9% of them and its HHI is 184, the lowest of any origin with 10 or more listings. New Zealand, with 27 listings from 19 brands, scores 754.
Why do some small origins show a high HHI?▾
Sample size. Argentina has 3 branded listings from 3 brands (HHI 3,333); Hungary has 5 branded listings from 4 brands (HHI 2,800); Turkey has 5 branded listings from 4 brands (HHI 2,800). With fewer than 10 listings, one extra jar from the same producer moves the index by hundreds of points, so these figures describe which producers we found, not the structure of honey production in those countries. The trustworthy comparisons are between origins with 10 or more listings.
What does this mean for a shopper?▾
An unfamiliar brand is normal: 81% of the brands in our catalogue appear once. Check what the label says instead of who made it: a named region or apiary, the floral source, the harvest season, and a third-party certification where one exists (UMF for Manuka, USDA Organic, True Source).
Why is brand concentration low in this catalogue?▾
Mostly because of how the catalogue is built: each listing is a specific variety from a specific region, so a producer appears again only when it sells another variety we cover. Single-variety honeys such as tupelo, sourwood or sage also come from one region each, so the producers differ from variety to variety. The catalogue is not evidence about market share or consolidation.
How does this relate to the certification audit?▾
The certification audit found that 22 of 304 listings (7.2%) carry any certification, and that audits cost producers money every year. With 180 of 222 brands appearing once in our catalogue, an unfamiliar name is as common as a missing seal, and neither is a warning sign on its own.

Related pages

Research MethodologyHoney Certification AuditState of Raw Honey 2026Honey Brand Floral BreadthThe Monofloral MapOpen Dataset (CC BY 4.0)Browse all 304 honeysLocal honey by stateHow to Read a Honey Label

Related Guides

Best Honey Brands

Compare labels, traceability, certification, testing evidence, and value without relying on a ranking.

Read Guide

Quality & Grading

Identify quality honey and spot fakes.

Read Guide

Honey Nutrition Facts

USDA reference values and label-reading context.

Read Guide