Last year, Serbia exported 2,701 tons of honey worth 13,096,000 euros, which is 46 percent more than in 2019. Honey was mostly exported to Italy, Norway and Germany.
“The growing demand for honey opens up great opportunities for more serious development of beekeeping in Serbia. Indirect benefits of beekeeping in pollination of plants in fruit growing, vegetables, farming and others are of great importance for increasing yields, and the ecosystem in general. Beekeeping technology continues to advance in Serbia, which can be seen from the growth in the number of hives per farm, and in the export of honey to the payment markets,” say the Association for Livestock and Processing of Livestock Products PKS.
According to the Decree on the distribution of incentives in agriculture and rural development in 2021, incentives in the amount of 7 euros per hive were given to all beekeepers.
Serbia has natural resources that are the basis for the development of beekeeping, which indicates the huge potential for further development of this economic activity.
Since the establishment of the Group for beekeeping and honey production PKS in 2003, the growth of honey exports to EU countries has begun, and beekeeping and production of honey and other bee products are becoming more and more interesting economic activities.
According to the data of the Veterinary Administration, 90 honey packaging facilities have been registered in Serbia so far. With the establishment and registration of facilities for the export of honey to EU countries (seven facilities have been registered so far), the conditions for greater production and export of honey have been created.
In 2019, according to the SBS, Serbia had 977,000 hives, which is seven percent more than in 2018. The beekeeping economy estimates that the number of hives will continue to grow.
By the way, the Group for beekeeping and honey production sent two initiatives to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management earlier. The first refers to the development of the Strategy for the Development of Beekeeping and the establishment of the Institute of Beekeeping. The second, for the development of the Ordinance on bee venom, which would enable legal trade and export of this important product, which is extremely expensive in foreign markets. In that way, beekeepers could get through rainy years that are not favorable for collecting honey, eKapija reports.
