Market leaders
As of 2021, India is the country with the highest number of beehives, at around 12.85 million, followed by mainland China and Turkey. In comparison, the United States only has about 2.7 million beehives. Despite the huge number of hives in India, China outstrips India in terms of production volume, producing about 473,000 metric tons of honey in that same year. Turkey, the next leading producer, produced only about a fifth of that volumeChina is the leading country for production and also has the highest export value of natural honey at about 278 million U.S. dollars, consisting of 10.5 percent of the overall export value. The United States is the leading importer of honey worldwide, purchasing about 794 million U.S. dollars of honey from other countries in 2022.