Comvita has posted a $7.7 million profit, a year after a $105 million loss. Chief executive Karl Gradon says the result comes from structural change rather than one-off gains, with a lower cost base and $62 million of debt repaid.

“No one gets a prize for having inventory at the end of the year,” he says.

The company lifted Manuka honey volumes even as national hive numbers fell from more than 900,000 to fewer than half a million, and is diversifying beyond China into North America and Southeast Asia.

“We don’t want it to return to the gold rush.”

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