WASHINGTON – U.S. honey prices in 2013 increased for the eighth consecutive year and were record high for the sixth consecutive year even as production increased 5% from 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its annual Honey report.

U.S. Honey Production

The average price for all classes of honey sold through all channels was a record 212.1c a lb, up 6% from an upwardly revised 199.2c a lb in 2012, the U.S.D.A. said. The average price at retail was 373.5c a lb, up 7% from 348c in 2012, and at the cooperative and private level was 204.7c, also up 7% from 191.3c. The total value of honey produced in 2013 was $317,087,000, up 12% from $283,454,000 a year earlier.

Production of all types of honey totaled 149,499,000 lbs in 2013, up 5% from 142,296,000 lbs in 2012 and the highest since 176,462,000 lbs in 2010, the U.S.D.A. said. Stocks of honey held by producers on Dec. 15, 2013, totaled 38,160,000 lbs, up 20% from 31,829,000 lbs a year earlier.

The number of producing colonies increased 4% from 2,529,000 in 2012 to 2,640,000 in 2013, the U.S.D.A. said. Honey yield per colony averaged 56.6 lbs in 2013, up 1% from 56 lbs in 2012.