The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification said the validity of existing MEP of $1400 per tonne on export of natural honey is extended till December 31, 2026. Earlier in January, the Government had extended the MEP till March 31.

In August last year, the Government had reduced the MEP from $2000 to $1400 per tonne which was in effect till December 31, 2025, to enhance the competitiveness of the Indian honey exports.

As per the latest export data available for the financial year 2025-26, India’s honey exports stood at 95308 tonnes, valued at $176.56 million for the April-January period. During financial year 2024-25, India exported over 1 lakh tonnes of honey worth $206.47 million.

India is one of the major producer and exporters of natural honey and the main destinations are US, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

India exports a variety of natural honey like rapeseed/mustard honey, eucalyptus honey, lychee honey, sunflower honey among otehrs. The major Indian states producing honey are Uttar Pradesh, accounting 17 per cent of the national output, followed by West Bengal (16%), Punjab (14%), Bihar (12%) and Rajasthan (9%).

The Government is currently implementing The National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) as part of the ‘Sweet Revolution,’ an ambitious initiative aimed at promoting apiculture to accelerate the production of quality honey and boost farmers’ income through scientific and organized beekeeping .

Implemented through the National Bee Board (NBB), the scheme was announced under the banner of Atmanirbhar Bharat with a total budget outlay of ₹500 crore for three years (FY 2020–21 to 2022–23). It has since been extended for another three years (FY 2023–24 to 2025–26) with a remaining budget of ₹370 crore from the original allocation.

Published on April 13, 2026