The national body representing beekeepers is seeking an urgent meeting with police after a recent spate of beehive thefts.

About $500,000 worth of hives have been stolen from a pine forest in Northland in the past fortnight.

The honey export industry is worth over $100 million a year, while the price of table honey shot up by almost fifty percent earlier this year.

Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Daniel Paul said they're trying to arrange a meeting with police to change how it's dealt with.

"Previously it's been sort of a regional thing, you know, a hive's been stolen somewhere around the country and the local police will be involved.

"We would like to address this issue nationwide so that we have a coordinated response."

He said beekeepers are already security conscious, but they need to take extra precautions.

"Keeping hives away from public view, making sure the latest security devices are in the hives, or at least around the sites, [and] making sure that you visit the sites often.

Meanwhile, two men will appear in court next week, arrested earlier this month for stealing 65 beehives from a property north of Whanganui.

In May last year, beekeepers around Kawakawa were hit by a rash of hive thefts.