Iwi honey not so sweet
About 1000 Nga i Tahu members were welcomed during a powhiri in Invercargill yesterday as the South Island iwi hosts its biennial hui in the city.
The three-day event kicked off at ILT Stadium Southland and an open forum was held in the afternoon.
Nga i Tahu’s honey investment was questioned at the forum. Nga i Tahu Holdings-owned Oha
Honey LP reported a net deficit of $62.4 million this year.
Company chairman Mark Tume said it had been a particularly troublesome investment.
Nga i Tahu Holdings had not done a good job of analysing the risk of the investment when venturing into the honey business, Tume said.
In the case of Oha Honey, a downturn in the market and the weather conditions for the past three seasons were not productive for business, he said.
Oha Honey chief executive Nadine Tunley said when Nga i Tahu invested in the industry it was trending upwards and everyone wanted to invest in it.
One of the challenges was that it had signed 10-year land access agreements and the company had to get out of some of those agreements, Tunley said.
‘‘We have gone to a dark, deep place in the trenches and we have to work our way out of that.’’
Another point of difficulty was changing the brand name from Watson & Son to Oha Honey.
China, which made up 30 per cent of Oha Honey’s market, had reacted unfavourably to the name change, she said.
The business needed to retreat from some regions, such as Northland and East Cape, because of unfavourable weather conditions but due to ongoing agreements it would take some time to get out of contracts.
Overall Nga i Tahu Holdings recorded a $37.5m net profit for the year, which was below expectations and down from $153.7m in the previous year.
The only other business to record a deficit was Nga i Tahu Farming, which had a net deficit of $10.3m.
Today, the hui will highlight kaupapa (projects) happening in Murihiku Southland, including Predator Free Maukahuka, and research into the impact of plastic waste on tıtı (mutton-bird) chicks.
Also on offer are a hikoi to the Waituna lagoon and a charter trip to Ruapuke Island, followed by entertainment from Mara TK, Saelyn and Super Funk Band in the evening.