Consumption of honey, made-with-honey products totaled 618M lbs. in 2021.
U.S. honey demand reached an all-time high, according to the latest Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook report published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In a special article on the U.S. honey market, record-setting consumption of honey and made-with-honey products totaled 618 million pounds in 2021. The previous record was 596 million pounds in 2017.
The U.S. is the second largest honey consumer behind China according to the latest data available from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2019. In 2021, consumption increased 8 percent from the previous year. Between 1991 to 2021, the average rate of growth is 10.7 million pounds per year. This translates to about 1.9 pounds per capita of honey consumption in 2021 compared with 1.2 pounds per capita in the early 1990s. The growth in demand, in part due to the growing population, has also been attributed to consumers’ association of honey as a “superfood”—along with garlic, ginger, and turmeric—and perception of honey being a healthy sweetener.