Honey production has dipped drastically due to excessive temperatures

Romanian beekeepers request the authorities to grant a financial support of 10 euros/family of bees, considering the major difficulties the sector faces due to the extreme weather conditions in 2024 and the negative impact of non-EU honey imports on the domestic market."The year 2024 was marked by a series of extreme weather events that drastically affected beekeeping production. In Europe and beyond, atmospheric conditions and climate change cause big problems for bee families and, unfortunately, Romania is no exception. This year, we lost about 40-45% of the honey production at the national level. The production was affected starting with the first rape harvest, continuing with the acacia, where the production was affected up to 70% in some areas, linden as well, and sunflower production was compromised in most of the country due to excessive temperatures," said the president of the Association of Beekeepers of Romania (ACA), Ioan Fetea."In recent years, beekeepers have made special efforts to keep the bee families alive. There is no question of profitability at this moment. From the discussions we had and have every day with the beekeepers, many of them will not introduce large flocks of bees for the winter, they will unify swarms or weaker families. This year, beekeepers had additional expenses compared to the 2023 season, around 218 RON per bee family. You realize that it is only for one bee family an additional financial effort of over 200 RON, 2,000 RON for 10 families, and 20,000 RON for 100 families. It is not easy, especially in the conditions in which the amount of honey that was made this year cannot be capitalized at a price that could ensure the recovery or partial coverage of these expenses. In addition, young people no longer attend classes, they are no longer interested in this activity, because they realize that it is very difficult to survive and to support your family from an activity that depends 99% on nature," warned the head of ACA.On the other hand, these difficulties are aggravated by the presence on the internal market of non-EU honey, which led to a significant drop in prices and affected the ability of Romanian beekeepers to capitalize on their modest production obtained in 2024."We are in the third year in which honey exports have decreased a lot, and beekeepers have to face these challenges related to the valorization of honey. The honey that is imported to Romania and is valorized on the shelves of large stores is a honey-mix with honey from Ukraine or China, mixtures that have nothing to do with the special quality of the Romanian product, but the prices at which they are imported are certainly a fierce competition for the Romanian product. Today, honey is imported for 6-7 RON per kg, whilst it costs us almost double, somewhere over 12-13 RON per kilogram of honey," said Ioan Fetea.According to the source, the crisis in Romanian beekeeping will not be solved too easily, even if the European Union is currently trying to implement a labeling that indicates the country of origin of the honey, in the case of the mixture, and the percentage of the mixture, because in Europe it still enters enough questionable honey."Ukraine had a norm of 18,000 tons, it reached 44,000 tons of export to the EU and probably next year they will start at this rate, so it is very difficult to control these activities, which will surely lead to the bankruptcy of most of the beekeeping activity," said the president of ACA.He mentioned that, because of these climate changes and extreme temperatures, the bee has changed its behavior, and in the last period there were a series of warnings about the fact that the bees have become irritable and attack. Also, the head of ACA argued that, if there is no financial support for the beekeeping sector, it risks collapsing, a situation that has not been seen in Romania for over 40-50 years.Last but not least, the head of ACA expressed his regret that the state has not yet found solutions for the implementation of the "Honey in Schools" programme, already postponed for the 18th consecutive year, although Romania is at the bottom of the European ranking regarding honey consumption .According to official data, Romania currently has 2.3 million bee families, but the head of the ACA considers that it is quite difficult to keep a very accurate record, as long as an inventory is not made, because there are still beekeepers, somewhere between 5 and 10% not registered anywhere.Romania currently ranks second in Europe in the number of bee families, after Spain, with a total of 2.395 million, and third in honey production.The average consumption of honey in Romania is somewhere between 600-750 grams per person annually, according to ACA, although the data of the National Institute of Statistics indicate a consumption of almost one kilogram per inhabitant annually.