Mexico Holds Ninth Place Among Global Honey Exporters With 27,200 Tonnes a Year
Mexico ranks ninth among the world's honey exporters with 3.8 per cent of the international market, shipping an average of 27,200 tonnes a year worth $94 million between 2021 and 2025, according to the Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural. Exports reached 30 countries in 2025, with Germany and the United States accounting for more than 63 per cent of total export value.
Mexico is the world's ninth-largest exporter of honey, holding a 3.8 per cent share of the international market, according to figures from the Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (Sader) reported by Quadratín on 19 August 2026. Between 2021 and 2025 the country shipped an average of 27,200 tonnes a year, with an average annual value of $94 million.
A five-year average of 27,200 tonnes
The Sader data describe a trade that is stable rather than fast-growing. An average of 27,200 tonnes and $94 million a year over the 2021-2025 period implies a mean export value of roughly $3,450 per tonne. That level is consistent with retail-grade, origin-identified honey sold into mature import markets, rather than with bulk material bought for industrial blending, where unit values are typically much lower.
In 2025 exports rose from 20,000 to 26,000 tonnes and reached 30 countries, Quadratín reported. The 2025 volume still sits marginally below the five-year average, which suggests the increase recovered ground lost earlier in the period rather than establishing a new ceiling for Mexican shipments. For processors and importers planning contracts, that distinction matters: the supply base is not visibly expanding, and additional demand has to be met from the same pool of production.
- Global ranking: ninth among honey exporters
- Market share: 3.8 per cent of international honey trade
- Average annual exports, 2021-2025: 27,200 tonnes
- Average annual export value: $94 million
- 2025 volume: 26,000 tonnes, up from 20,000 tonnes
- Destination markets: 30 countries
Germany and the United States take most of the value
Germany and the United States together concentrated more than 63 per cent of the total value of Mexican honey sold abroad, according to the same Sader figures. Both are high-priced markets with demanding documentation and quality requirements, which helps explain the value per tonne implied by the five-year averages.
The concentration also defines the main commercial risk in the trade. With two destinations absorbing close to two-thirds of export value, changes in demand, retail pricing or import requirements in either country would be felt immediately by Mexican packers and beekeeping cooperatives. The remaining 28 destination markets divide less than 37 per cent of the value between them, meaning no third buyer is currently large enough to absorb a shortfall in either Germany or the United States.
Yucatán and the production base
El Informador reported that Yucatán leads national honey production and that Mexico has consolidated its position as a strategic and competitive participant in the international honey market. That regional concentration links national export performance directly to conditions in a single production zone: harvest results, flowering seasons and weather in the leading state feed through to the volumes available for shipment.
For buyers, the practical consequence is that Mexican availability is less diversified across regions than the 30-country destination list implies on the sales side. Origin risk sits on the supply end of the chain, not the demand end.
What the figures imply for the season ahead
The combination of a stable five-year average, a 2025 volume still below that average and a heavily concentrated buyer base leaves limited slack in the system. Exporters seeking growth face a choice between competing for additional share in Germany and the United States, where price levels are already high, and developing volume in the smaller markets that currently account for the minority of export value.
Neither path changes the underlying constraint: with average shipments of 27,200 tonnes and a 3.8 per cent world market share, Mexico competes on quality and traceability rather than on scale.
