Mānuka branding mess need not be this sticky

Calls for strong co-operative trans-Tasman marketing approach for Manuka honey despite trademark dispute

Sticky situation: There is an important distinction to be made in the trademark of mānuka honey.

It is concerning to many that recent media coverage relating to the trademark dispute over the term “mānuka honey” misrepresents the Australian Mānuka Honey Association position.

The word “Mānuka” has been in the Australian lexicon for more than 150 years and the plant itself is acknowledged as being native of New Zealand and Tasmania. There has never been any attempt by the Australians to claim or use the Maori versions of the word Mānuka, (“mānuka/maanuka”).

The AMHA is absolutely and unequivocally supportive of the New Zealand beekeeping industry owning exclusive rights to the Maori characterisations of the word. But the New Zealand argument appears confused because there was authoritative evidence presented to a Select Committee in 2018 which submitted that “manuka” without a macron over the “a”, is a meaningless word to Maori. My colleagues and I acknowledge and respect that evidence.

The current legal dispute is not only disingenuous, involving a descriptive term, but ignores a number of commercial realities:

AUSTRALIA is one of New Zealand’s largest honey markets;

ONE of New Zealand’s largest manuka honey players has interests in manuka plantations in Australia, thereby acknowledging the legitimacy of product from Australia being labelled mānuka; and

EVEN a collaborative marketing effort by both Australia and New Zealand would hardly satisfy the global demand.

There are strong arguments for a co-operative trans-Tasman approach, with particular focus on the sciences and target marketing. Production innovations could make mānuka honey, (and for that matter honey in general), more accessible to those who need it most, ie with lacerations or burns, or digestive ailments, many of whom are in lower socio-economic groups. These groups are of particular interest to Maori landowners with their whanau (family) wellbeing approach to life.

● Tom Walters is chief executive of Maori Research Institute Limited, and a partner/director in NZ Honey Export Group Limited and Mānuka Honey Partners Limited

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