Romanian beekeepers are demanding an end to honey imports from Ukraine, given that Romania has a surplus of production, as well as financial support from the aid provided by the European Union, even if the sum of 10 million euros is “rainwater for Romanian agriculture”. .

“The biggest problem for us now is product valorization. Even if the production was modest, even under these conditions we cannot use honey because there is unfair competition between what we produce and what comes from outside the EU, unfortunately at very low prices.

We cannot capitalize in the same way, given that product prices have increased by 30-40%, purchase prices have also decreased by 30-40%, and export demand is almost non-existent.

For many years, we had this unfair competition, and now in the context of Ukraine there is even more freedom,” the president of the Association of Beekeepers of Romania (ACA) Ioan Fetia told Agerpres.

There are honey mixtures in stores, “complete madness”

According to him, Romania imports more than 4,000 tons of honey from outside the EU, which is sold both on domestic and foreign markets mixed with other categories of honey, and domestic production is very difficult to capitalize on.

“I think that last year more than 4 thousand tons of honey were imported, and our exports were close to zero. Of course, not all imported honey is consumed in Romania, but it is still mixed with other categories.

I can tell you what I saw on the shelf, including a dose, a bag, a mixture of four categories of honey, respectively from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and China.

This merger is complete madness. Now came a public statement from the European Union, for example, that 40% of imported honey is fake, but we have been demanding this, i.e. correct labeling, for more than 10 years and only now, it seems, they will make this gesture, but it is too late,” he emphasized.

Beekeepers demand to stop importing honey from Ukraine

The representative of the Romanian beekeepers specified that he had sent an appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture with a request to allocate the financial assistance provided by the EU for the cheap import of grain from Ukraine to the beekeeping of Romania, as well as the integration of honey into the category of agricultural products, which also includes grain, in respect of which a request for termination was submitted import

“In any case, if we do not take such measures as with grain, we will bankrupt these apiaries, which are still producing, although young people are no longer suitable for this work, because it does not bring income.

I asked the Ministry of Agriculture, if these EU funds are allocated, these 10 million euros, which are rainwater for Romanian agriculture, to introduce honey and beehives, that is, to include beekeeping in this category.

You can see from the statistical data that honey was imported from Ukraine to get us caught there. It seems that these amounts will be larger, and under these conditions, it would be good to help beekeeping a little, in conditions where the last year was unsuccessful and the minimum aid, which is included in the budget, was not provided.

So, our request is that the beekeeping sector be integrated into this request to stop imports such as grains and other food products and protect local production,” the ACA president said.

Depopulation and mass death of bees

According to the quoted source, massive bee depopulation has been reported nationally this winter, and the financial assistance provided by the National Beekeeping Program (PNA) for either hive maintenance or various diseases only provides what is needed for 25% beehives

“The national beekeeping program that they are still working on does not provide what is needed for even 25% of hives and flocks. The remaining 75% of beekeepers do not use the apiary. People no longer have the funds to maintain hives, and this winter there has been massive depopulation and mortality in almost every county in the country, which is an alarming signal.

The winter was not very severe, but biologically it was not right because the bees laid the queen late, the consumption increased, the bee that should have hatched in March-April hatched at the end of February, and we found that more than half died in more than 10% of the hives , so it’s a mass depopulation.

There are also exemptions granted year after year for neonicotinoids that are destroying bee populations. Such a catastrophic year with so many deaths has not happened in a long time,” warned Ioan Fetea.

They would also be satisfied with an aid of 15 euros per family of bees

A de minimis aid of around €15 per bee colony would also be welcome in the context of a capricious spring and in conditions where honey production is 90% climate dependent.

“Last year we asked for about 20 euros per family of bees, which we did not receive, but now it would be nice, especially since this spring was very capricious, help of about 15 euros per family of bees.

Indeed, the winter was in March and April, with frosts, rains and cold, even the first rape crop, which gave a little hope to the beekeepers, will not be used, maybe even 30%-40% of its potential, because we have there are no bees, and where there are bees, we do not have enough time to allow the nectar to be used,” the ACA president warned.

Regarding beekeeping in 2023, the head of the beekeeping society emphasized that it is very difficult to make forecasts, because beekeeping is deterministic and 90% depends on the natural factor, and he currently does not know what the climatic conditions will be.

“We don’t know what the bee year 2023 will be like. So far, the sunflowers have not been sown, now they are plowing large areas across the country, but we do not know how the weather will develop, what the climatic conditions will be, high temperatures, drought, but, in any case, spring has started well for us.” Fetya noted.

They still hope to introduce honey in schools

Last but not least, he noted that the measure that has been talked about for more than 17 years, namely the introduction of honey in schools, will greatly help Romanian beekeepers to benefit from domestic production.

“We have been talking about introducing honey in schools since 2006, this is complete madness. We want it so we can at least use more honey internally if it doesn’t work externally.

Due to inflation, honey is no longer consumed, and in this context, honey in schools would be a breath of fresh air for beekeepers. It would be amazing to be able to earn 4,000-5,000 tons of domestic production,” he reiterated.

“I didn’t raise the price of honey because I couldn’t”

Despite all these problems and shortcomings, the head of ASA claims that the price of honey has not changed, at least at the level of the association and the Bee Plant.

“Our association and the Apicol plant did not raise prices, despite the increase at all levels. We did not raise the price of honey because we could not, there were no requests and we could not raise the price. Our stocks have been minimal since 2021, and they went for export in the spring of 2022, in January-February, but it is only 80-100 tons.

Then we did not export a single gram of honey. So, from the production of 2022, we sat with the technology line and looked at it. Last year’s production was somewhere below 50% of the annual average, namely 12,000-13,000, maybe 14,000 tons.

There were a few counties where it was better, but if we do an overall analysis across the country, somewhere below 50%. Another 5,000 tons come from Ukraine or other countries that are not part of the EU, and we forget about it, we kill our production,” said the president of the beekeeping association.

In recent years, Romania produced an average of 22,000 tons of honey per year, ranking fourth in Europe with 1.47 million bee colonies.

There are currently 2.35 million bee colonies nationally and over 35,000 – 37,000 registered beekeepers, around 50% of whom are ACA members, who own over 60% of the bee colony.

(article photo: DreamsTime.com)