Bee Product Business Booms in China

Local Specialties Get New Chance Online
By Liu Donghui, China Radio International, 2/11/2010

Yin Na can finally begin her Spring Festival holiday on Wednesday of this week, as she has finished all the delivery work of honey products to online shoppers.

With the festival for reunion approaching, the orders of Yin's homemade treats came in great numbers. Each day of the past month, she had to send out up to 500 packages from her hometown - Shaoxing city in east China's Zhejiang province, to buyers across the country.

"Trading volume in the past 30 days reached 300-thousand yuan, 30% higher than previous months," she estimated, confessing that she has had no time to do the account work yet.

The 29-year-old started her online business in March last year on Taobao.com, China's largest online auction site, when the self-made honey food faced difficulty in export sales, trying to find a new distribution channel for the family business that has lasted for more than 40 years.

The Yin family has a total of 19 bee-raising farms which are scattered across the local Simingshan Mountain and other provinces as well.

"We usually go to northwest China's Shaanxi province to collect the nectar of flos sophorae, and to the northeast of China for linden flowers," Yin said this is to ensure that they can get the best nectar of a specific species of flower. The nectar will then be made into honey, pollen, and propolis products at the family's own factory.

Now nearly 60 kinds of products are being displayed at Yin's online shop, with more than 60,000 items sold in less than one year.

Among them is one specialty by Yin's mother. It is a pickle product made with rose petals and honey, usually called the "rose sauce". In the past, the treat was only served to family members but now it has sold 2,600 bottles online in just one month.

Wang Chong, one of the rose sauce fans in Hangzhou, bought 12 items within three months. "I usually consume one bottle a month. It is good for digestion. So I bought several more for my parents and friends."...