The New Zealand government will invest nearly $6 million into a campaign by its domestic honey producers to stop Australian beekeepers from using the term "manuka", with one minister accusing the Australians of "economic larceny".

The Manuka Honey Appellation Society (MHAS), which represents a group of New Zealand beekeepers and honey packers, has applied for certification marks on the term "manuka honey" in China, which would shut Australian producers out of the world's biggest trade market.

Manuka is the honey produced from the nectar of Leptospermum scoparium trees, which are native to New Zealand and Australia, and has antibacterial properties superior to regular honey. Manuka, the Maori word for trees, has been used in Tasmania since at least 1884. Neither country produced honey until European honeybees were introduced about 1822.

The New Zealand government is attempting to prevent Australian beekeepers from marketing their products as “manuka”. Credit:Wolter Peeters

But the MHAS claims Australians are not entitled to use the word "manuka" on their honey, because it is the cultural property of the Maori and intrinsically connected to New Zealand in the consumer psyche.