Romanian beekeepers are requesting Romanian authorities to provide financial support of 10 euros per bee family, considering the major difficulties faced by the sector due to 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 changes are causing significant problems for bee families, and unfortunately, Romania is no exception.
This year, we lost about 40-45% of the national honey production. Production was affected starting from the first harvest, that of rapeseed, continuing with the acacia, where production was calamitous up to 70% in some areas, as well as with linden and sunflower, where production was compromised in most parts of the country due to excessive temperatures,” stated Ioan Fetea, the president of the Romanian Beekeepers Association (ACA).
An Activity That Depends 99% on Nature Is No Longer Attractive or Profitable
Beekeepers are making extraordinary efforts to ensure the survival and preservation of bee families, especially considering the increasing expenses. Without financial support from the state, bee populations could be reduced this year.
"In recent years, beekeepers have made extraordinary efforts to keep bee families alive. Profitability is not the issue at this moment. From the discussions we have had and continue to have with beekeepers, many of them will not introduce large bee populations for wintering, they will merge colonies or weaker families.
This year, beekeepers had additional expenses compared to the 2023 season, around 218 lei per bee family.
Just imagine that for one bee family, there is an additional financial effort of over 200 lei, for 10 families it's 2,000 lei, and for 100 families - 20,000 lei. It's not easy, especially considering that the amount of honey produced this year cannot be marketed at a price that would ensure the recovery or partial coverage of these expenses.
Moreover, young people are no longer attending courses, they are no longer interested in this activity because they realize how difficult it is to survive and maintain a family from an activity that depends 99% on nature," warned the ACA chief.
On the other hand, these difficulties are exacerbated by the presence of non-EU honey on the domestic market, which has led to a significant drop in prices and has affected the ability of Romanian beekeepers to market the modest production obtained in 2024.
"We are in the third year in which honey exports have decreased significantly, and beekeepers must face these challenges related to honey marketing.
The honey that enters Romania and is sold on the shelves of large stores is a blend of honey from Ukraine or China, blends that have nothing to do with the exceptional quality of the Romanian product, but the prices at which they are imported certainly pose stiff competition to the Romanian product.
Today, honey is imported at 6-7 lei per kilogram, while it costs us almost double, somewhere over 12-13 lei per kilogram of honey," said Ioan Fetea.
According to the source cited, the crisis in Romanian beekeeping will not be easily resolved, even though the European Union is currently attempting to implement labeling indicating the country of origin and the percentage of the blend in cases of mixed honey, as there is still a considerable amount of questionable honey entering Europe.
"There are countries producing questionable honey, and such honey continues to enter Europe. The European Union is considering imposing a customs duty on honey imported from Ukraine.
They have now thought about imposing this duty when nearly 45,000 tons have already been imported this year, and the warehouses are full? Ukraine had a quota of 18,000 tons, and they reached 44,000 tons of imports, and probably next year they will continue at the same pace, making it very difficult to control these activities, which will undoubtedly lead to the bankruptcy of a large part of beekeeping.
This activity experienced significant growth especially after Romania's accession to the European Union, when many professional beekeepers emerged. However, under current conditions, they will start to give up because it's quite challenging to survive, even though they made serious investments, some with European funds. They will give up on them and shift to more profitable activities," stated the ACA president.
Considering all these difficulties faced by the Romanian beekeeping sector, ACA sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) in July requesting "concrete financial support for Romanian beekeepers" so they can cope with current challenges and continue their activities.
Furthermore, the organization also requested the implementation of legislative measures to protect the domestic market from non-EU honey, which severely affects the marketing of local production, and to support the increase in honey consumption in Romania.
"There used to be aid of around 5 to 10 euros per bee family. The response we received from them has become a recurring theme for the past 3-4 years: depending on the available funds, it will be seen whether or not these funds will be allocated to bee families.
During this period, we are in the process of forming winter reserves for bee families, which require a reserve of 10 to 17 kilograms of food for survival, family development, and, of course, for the beginning of activities next spring, so that we have strong bee families," explained the association's representative.
Bees Have Become Irritable and Aggressive
He mentioned that due to these climate changes and extreme temperatures, bees have altered their behavior, and recently there have been warnings that bees have become irritable and aggressive.
"Unfortunately, when bees don't have a harvest, they attack even the beekeeper, wandering behind the hive. They are used to working, not begging. But what can we do? Unfortunately, we have become dependent on these funds, on this financial support, even though some time ago we didn't think about such periods," emphasized Ioan Fetea.
Additionally, the ACA chief stated 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.
Lastly, the ACA chief expressed regret that the state has not yet found solutions to implement the "Honey in Schools" program, postponed for the 18th consecutive year, despite Romania being at the bottom of the European ranking in terms of honey consumption.
Romania currently ranks second in Europe in terms of the number of bee families, after Spain, with a total of 2.395 million, and third in honey production.
The average honey consumption in Romania is somewhere between 600-750 grams per person annually, according to ACA, although data from the National Institute of Statistics indicate a consumption of almost one kilogram per resident annually.
Nationally, there are over 35,000 - 37,000 beekeepers, with around 50% being ACA members, who own over 60% of the bee populations in Romania.