Due to bad weather, production fell to the lowest branches, which could increase imports, but also prices on the domestic market, say the SPOS.
Serbia produces from 6,000 tons and even up to 12,000 tons of honey a year, but this 2020 will be bad, almost unheard of for domestic beekeepers. Only in April next year, it will be reliably known how much decline has been recorded in beekeeping. The Association of Beekeeping Organizations of Serbia (SPOS) roughly estimates that honey will be 80 percent less than the average, and that production will not exceed 2,000 tons.
As they said for Politika, this practically means that Serbia is “on the verge of a shortage of honey”, which could cause an increase in imports, but also prices on the domestic market. In some cities, honey has already risen in price by 1 to 2 euros.
– The wholesale price of honey has increased, and in a good part of Serbia also in retail. These are mostly stocks from 2019. The price is solid, but unfortunately there is not enough honey this year – the president of SPOS, Rodoljub Zivadinovic, stated for our paper.
The reason for the decline in production is the bad weather conditions that befell us during the flowering of acacia. Acacia fell on low branches, there is little of it and it was only found in some parts of the country. It was almost non-existent in most of Serbia. That honey, as long as it is on the market, will mostly be exported.
He says that the sunflower pasture also failed and that on average it will not exceed five to seven kilograms per hive. When it comes to meadow grazing, one does not remember a worse year while, he adds, last year was probably the best in history. This year, only linden honey was in decent quantities. But there is not enough of it either. In good years, there will be only about 300 tons, which, he says, is nothing for Serbia.
– The situation is catastrophic. People are starving bees, those who have not fed will be left without bees. Many have no money. There is everything on the field – Zivadinovic pointed out.
He says that we can practically only speculate about domestic honey consumption. This data is obtained when we subtract exports from total production. If we export from 2,000 to 3,000 tons, and produce an average of 6,000 to 8,000 tons, the average consumption is exactly from 3,000 to 4,000 tons.
– I think we will be on the verge of a shortage. Yes, there are some stocks from last year, but they are not large. We cannot know exactly how much honey is with beekeepers at this moment – says our interlocutor and adds that those beekeepers who have forest or meadow honey from last year were recently invited to apply, but a very small number of them responded. He points out that there is a problem because of the pandemic that has reduced the consumption of almost all products.
– Everything is sold less, so honey will be sold less, like any other food. It is difficult to assess whether it will be enough or not because we do not have exact data – says the president of SPOS. Everything that can be exported and what customers are looking for will go to foreign markets because the situation is similar, for example, in Hungary, which is a large exporter, and which had the worst acacia grazing season in the last 50 years. According to their official reports, they do not have acacia honey at all.
Asked whether this situation would encourage importers, he said that “they started importing honey even when there was enough of it”. Due to the decline in yields, an increase in market counterfeiting can be expected, which we must fight against.
– For them, the reason for import is not a shortage but a profit – Zivadinovic emphasizes. He certainly believes that domestic honey, even after the price increase, if there is any, will not exceed 7 to 9 euros per kilogram. It will depend on supply and demand.
Zivadinovic told Tanjug earlier that thanks to the “Nash Med” plant in Raca, in which one million euros were invested, it is now clear to beekeepers that the earnings of honey packaging companies can be minimized. Beekeepers will be able to report honey to the “Our Honey” plant throughout the year, and the full price will be paid to them before the honey comes out of their warehouses.
He pointed out that our honey arrives on the market without intermediaries, and that buyers in Serbia, when honey soon starts to be filled into special jars, will finally have full control and insight into what they are buying. Anyone who wants to buy sugar mixtures will be able to buy them in the store for 3 euros, which is one of the current prices in Aleksinac.
He asked how such a price is possible when the purchase price of acacia honey is currently 4.67 euros. He also said that the honey from the “Our Honey” plant will reach consumers in jars that are produced on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, in the Croatian Hum na Sutli, because “there is simply no one to make jars in Serbia,” Politika reports.
