India shipped 100,773 tonnes of natural honey worth $206.47 million in FY2024-25 — its biggest export year on record (APEDA). One buyer took almost all of it. The United States imported 74,138 tonnes worth $139.2 million in calendar 2024, which is 77% of India's honey export value (World Bank WITS). That concentration is the whole story of honey export from India right now: it built the boom, and in 2025 it became the risk, as US tariffs and a 6.98% anti-dumping duty squeezed the single lane that matters.
Most exporters react to a squeezed lane by cutting price. The ones holding margin are reading shipment records instead — which US packers still buy, at what cadence, and which buyers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Portugal can absorb diverted drums. Here are the numbers, the duties, and the workflow.
The 30-second version
- FY2024-25 was a record: 100,773 MT of natural honey worth $206.47 million (APEDA).
- The US buys 77% of it by value — $139.2M and 74,138 t in 2024; the UAE is a distant second at $15.5M (WITS).
- Natural honey moves under HS 040900 (heading 0409); India's tariff line is 04090000.
- US anti-dumping duty: 5.87% all-others rate since April 2022; the June 2026 review set 6.98% for the three companies examined (ITA, Federal Register).
- India climbed from ninth-largest honey exporter in 2020 to second by volume — but MY2025 shipments are projected to fall 13-15% on US tariffs (The Locavore, APEDA-Crisil).
How big is honey export from India in 2026?
India exported 100,773 tonnes of natural honey worth $206.47 million in FY2024-25, its highest total ever, and now ranks second among world honey exporters by volume — up from ninth in 2020 (APEDA, The Locavore).
The run continued into 2025: shipments were 32% higher in January-July 2025 than a year earlier as buyers front-loaded orders. Then the tariff wall hit. The APEDA-Crisil September 2025 dashboard projects Indian honey exports falling 13-15% for marketing year 2025, because US tariffs touch 78% of everything India ships (APEDA-Crisil). Argentina, projected at 0.9 lakh MT against India's 0.8 lakh MT, may take the number-two slot back. China stays untouchable at roughly 2 lakh MT and 20% of world exports.
The unit math shows the price pressure: $206.47M over 100,773 t is about $2,049 per tonne. India's export price sat at $2,060/MT in September 2025, flat year on year, against Brazil's $3,370/MT and Argentina's $2,360/MT (APEDA-Crisil). India wins on price, not premium — a volume game, and volume games need many buyers, not one.
Which country buys the most honey from India?
The United States — $139.2 million and 74,138 tonnes in 2024, roughly 77% of India's natural honey export value. The UAE is second at $15.5 million, followed by Saudi Arabia at $5.0 million (World Bank WITS). The full top five:
- United States: $139.2 million (74,138 t)
- UAE: $15.5 million (8,630 t)
- Saudi Arabia: $5.0 million (2,459 t)
- Portugal: $2.7 million (1,421 t)
- Qatar: $2.2 million (1,103 t)
APEDA's FY2024-25 leaders match — USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Libya (APEDA). Note the cliff after position one: the US buys nine times the next four combined, mostly drum-grade raw honey for packers.
Seventy-seven percent in one market is not a customer list. It is a single point of failure with a flag on it.
HS 040900: the code behind natural honey export data
Natural honey has one of the cleanest classifications in the tariff book: heading 0409, subheading 040900, and in India's schedule the single eight-digit line 04090000. No splits by grade, floral source or packing — a mono-product code, which makes natural honey export data unusually easy to mine. Search one code and you have the entire trade. (Syrup blends fall under 1702, exactly where adulterated cargo hides.)
In markets where customs records are public — the US above all — bill-of-lading data under HS 040900 names the importer, the shipper, the weight and the date for every consignment. A honey exporter can pull a US packer's last twelve months of receipts before the first email goes out. If you're new to reading these records, start with how to use customs data to find buyers and how to read a bill of lading.
What is the US anti-dumping duty on Indian honey?
Most Indian shippers pay a 5.87% all-others anti-dumping rate, set in the April 2022 final determination on raw honey; the administrative review finalised in June 2026 assigned 6.98% to the three companies it examined for June 2023-May 2024 (ITA, Federal Register, June 18, 2026).
The 2022 order came out of a petition by American honey producers against four origins at once. India actually drew the lightest hit: company rates of 5.52% (Ambrosia/Sunlite) and 6.24% (Allied Natural Product) against Brazil's 7.89-83.72%, Argentina's 9.17-49.44% and Vietnam's crushing 58.74-61.27% (trade.gov). Commerce has since run rolling reviews — the 2021-23 cycle closed in April 2025, the 2023-24 preliminary landed in November 2025 — and current duties across origins now span 2.31% (Brazil) to 121.97% (Vietnam), stacked on top of 2025's blanket US tariffs (APEDA-Crisil).
Two practical consequences. A sub-7% duty is survivable when Vietnam pays twenty times that, so India's relative position in the US barely moved. But US import prices hit $2,850/MT by September 2025 and packers re-source constantly — honey export from India to the US is now a compliance exercise as much as a sales one.
NMR testing: the purity gate on every US-bound drum
Honey is one of the world's most-adulterated foods, and the trade's answer is NMR — nuclear magnetic resonance screening that fingerprints a sample's sugars and flags rice or corn syrup that older C4 tests miss. India's commerce ministry moved to make NMR testing mandatory for export honey back in November 2019 (Business Standard), and the Export Inspection Council runs the certification and residue-monitoring regime behind each consignment (EIC).
The buyer side tests too. US Customs and Border Protection has adopted NMR for targeted screening of honey imports (DHS/CBP), and the FDA runs its own sampling programme against economically motivated adulteration (FDA). One exporter habit worth copying: attach the NMR certificate and apiary traceability chain to the first quote, unasked. US and EU buyers shortlist on paperwork before price.
Honey export from India beyond the US: who else is buying
The hedge markets are real and mostly under-worked:
- The EU is the world's largest honey import market — projected at 3.6-3.7 lakh MT and over $1.1 billion in 2025, ahead of the US's 2.6-2.7 lakh MT (APEDA-Crisil).
- Portugal already takes $2.7M of Indian honey, and Indian offers at $1.61/kg undercut Spanish honey at $2.32/kg — a 44% gap in India's favour (APEDA-Crisil).
- The Gulf — UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar — took over $22M combined in 2024 and buys retail-ready jars, not just drums (WITS).
- North American supply is short: Canada's output fell 18.3% in 2024 after Manitoba lost 43% of colonies over winter, and Ukraine's exports are down 18% (APEDA-Crisil).
Price policy helps the pivot. India's minimum export price on natural honey, $2,000/MT until end-2024, was cut to $1,400/MT for 2025 through December 2026 (The Locavore) — room to quote aggressively in Europe and the Gulf while realised prices hold near $2,060/MT.
The US duty file is a reason to diversify. The Canadian colony collapse is the invitation.
How ShipScout turns honey trade data into buyers
ShipScout is a global trade-intelligence platform — 11 billion-plus shipment records across 240+ countries, built as an affordable alternative to Panjiva and ImportGenius. It helps Indian honey exporters find and vet buyers with data-backed targeting, working from mirrored licensed trade data for India-linked trade. The honey workflow:
- Search HS 040900 in open customs records. US bill-of-lading data names every active honey importer — start with US companies and sort by shipment count.
- Rank buyers by cadence, not size. A packer clearing drums monthly beats a giant who bought once; the company directory shows both.
- Vet before you ship. Check a consignee's real import history before extending credit — here's how to verify a partner before paying.
- Reach the decision-maker. Contact intelligence (where available) beats the info@ inbox; the wider playbook is in finding buyers for export from India and the food & agro buyer guide.
A record 100,773-tonne year proved supply and demand both exist; what most honey exporters lack is the buyer map beyond one country. It is already written in the shipment data — Start a free trial and search HS 040900 to read it.
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