A peak New Zealand honey association says it's still mulling the costs and benefits of a potential trans-Tasman legal battle over the name 'Manuka'.
Manuka honey is highly valued for its anti-bacterial and other health properties - retailing for up to $150 per kilogram.
With international demand growing, New Zealand honey producers have sought to shore up their NZ $260 million a year export industry, by seeking exclusive trademarks in the US, China, Britain and New Zealand itself.
"It's based on New Zealand uniqueness," says John Rawcliffe of New Zealand's Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association.
"And the consumer has got to know that 'Manuka' is a badge of origin and is a Maori word."
New Zealand pioneered the use of manuka in honey, and its industry is about ten times the size of Australia's - but moves towards accreditation here are galvanising Australian producers to respond with both science and the law.
Australian producers argue that the country has more than 80 species of the manuka tree Leptospermum Scoparium - which has the nectar from which manuka is derived - compared to just a single species in New Zealand.
"It's pretty amazing to find honey three or four or five times more powerful than the manukas that are coming out of New Zealand" Shona Blair, of the recently-formed Australian Manuka Honey Association said.
"It's also incredible to find that this honey kills so many different kinds of superbugs: golden staph, flesh-eating bacteria, E-Coli from hospitals, those kinds of things."
Dr Blair, a microbiologist from the Sydney University of Technology, is part of a cross-university research program that aims to use solid scientific research to bolster the Australian industry's claims.
Still, John Rawcliffe insists that, while there are similarities in Australia and New Zealand's manuka, there are also major differences.
"If you take that same plant and planted it anywhere in Australia, it would be different. I could take a Barossa Valley wine, plant it in New Zealand, and it would not have the same flavour or aromatics."
As trademark lawyers prepare their case, the Australian group has urged a united front when it comes to marketing manuka internationally.
"We're two quite small countries in the scheme of things," Ms Blair said.
"But there's so much global interest, there's plenty of room for both of us."
"We've been co-operating for the past five or six years", Mr Rawcliffe added.
"But let's co-operate on the premise that says, let's get the science correct, let's get the species identification correct, let's get the common names correct, and we can each grow with good co-operation."
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