The dramatic situation of honey producers in Spain

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There is no end to the dramatic situation for beekeeping worldwide. Each year is no better than the last, and beekeepers are anxiously waiting for a solution to the many problems they have been facing for decades. Problems ranging from the health of their bees, unfair competition on the honey market to difficult weather conditions. Unfortunately, the list of problems has increased in some areas of Europe with the arrival of the Asian wasp from China. Here, we are going to give you a small summary of how our beekeepers are suffering year after year their situation in their hives.

Index:

  1. Dramatic situation with no prospect of improvement
  2. Honey and pollen production affected

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1. Dramatic situation with no prospect of improvement

Beekeeping is going through a difficult time, and rather than the problem being solved, it is becoming more and more complicated. We have been in business for a decade now, and it seems that in the last few years, since 2021, the situation is getting more and more complicated. Furthermore, on the part of the small businessman, the economic situation is getting worse and worse due to the increase in taxes and higher tax burdens that he is suffering.

In 2022, the situation is more dramatic than ever. In addition to droughts and fires, there are also problems with the lack of glass bottles. The rise in electricity prices is causing a lack of cans due to the high production costs.

a) Honey production 2019

Honey production in 2019 was not too bad.

2. Honey and pollen production affected

This scarcity of flowering throughout Spain has generally affected all honey and pollen production. Furthermore, the most professionals have not been able to maintain despite working with their transhumance hives in various regions of the peninsula. Regions that have also been ravaged by drought and late frosts, as indicated by the Association of Farmers COAG of Salamanca.

Other factors that have acted negatively in the production of honey have been the frosts that we suffer at the end of the spring season. Frosts that burned the tender buds and flowers of heather, oak, thyme and rosemary in areas of high beekeeping production. Regions such as Guadalajara, Salamanca, León and Zamora.

This has meant that the 2017 season has started off low, with a lower than normal pollen production. Furthermore, gubernamental agencies estimate that beekeepers will have losses of around 60% compared to the average of previous seasons.

Honey harvests have also been severely reduced, especially single-flower honey. Even many beekeepers have been unable to produce some of these single-flower honeys.

a) Spain, one of the largest producers of raw honey in Europe

Spain is one of the largest producers of raw honey in Europe, with an average production of around 34 000 tonnes per year and an increasing number of beekeepers. However, numerous factors including varroa and insecticides are severely decimating all beehives. Exactly in the last decade the number of hives has decreased by almost 30%.

this situation can get even worse if we don’t find the exact causes of the high bee mortality in time and give it a solution. The Spanish beekeeping sector and honey companies will therefore continue to face a difficult situation.

b) Increase in production costs

Back to the bad year 2017 with droughts and late frosts. These climatic conditions have meant that beekeepers have had to increase their rate of transhumance and take their hives to increasingly exhausted and different fields.

Larger transfers require more hours spent in the hives and higher transport costs, which leads to a worsening of the financial conditions of beekeepers.

c) Dramatic situation for honey producers

Another problem facing Spanish beekeeping is the massive imports of honey from Asian countries. It is estimated that every 4 kilos of honey that we pack in Spain one kilo comes from honey harvested in an Asian country.

The production costs of one kilo of honey in Spain are estimated to be around 2.40 € per kilo and those coming from Asian countries reach the market with a value of 1.40 € per kilo with the tariff already included of 17%.

All this situation that we have indicated at the beginning plus the competition from Asian honey is putting the whole Spanish beekeeping sector on the ropes.

d) Rest of summer and beginning of autumn

We have all summer to see how the season goes. At the moment these days at the end of June you are being cool and can favour summer blooms. Now we are bees are making thyme honey, and soon they will start with lavender honey, which we will have to wait to see the results.

 

Sources:

El Periódico de Salamanca La crónica de Salamanca. The dramatic situation of honey producers. 29 de mayo del 2017. http://www.lacronicadesalamanca.com/

Periódico Cinco días. El sector apícola sobrevive a un golpe de adopciones. 12 de diciembre del 2016.

El periódico el País. La amarga invasión de la miel china. 13 de Agosto del 2016.

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