Honey export to drop by 85 percent,shortages on local market

BELGRADE - Export of honey from Serbia will drop this year by around 85 percent, and shortages of acacia honey are expected to hit the local market due to the lack of acacia grazing, President of the Serbian Federation of Beekeeping Organisations (SPOS) Rodoljub Zivadinovic said.

SPOS members did not manage to produce even as few as 300 tons of acacia honey in 2014, while the last year's acacia honey crop totalled 3,044 tons, Zivadinovic told Tanjug.

The May floods caused extensive damage to 1,683 hives and the total damage caused by the obliteration of honey bee communities and a poor acacia honey crop add up to over EUR 20 million, Zivadinovic said.

He said that the price of honey has already been upped because the current situation can no longer be labelled as a shortage since in some areas and among certain beekeepers it really constitutes a complete honey dearth.

The average price of honey ranges from RSD 600 to 800 per kilogramme, but prices of as many as RSD 1,500 have also been recorded, depending on the honey variety and the production region, Zivadinovic said.

In 2013, SPOS members produced 6,983 tons of honey, of which 3,044 tons were brought in by acacia honey, sunflower honey crop totalled 2,088 tons, 774 tons of the honey crop was meadow honey, 65 tons was forest honey, 48 tons was brought in by canola honey crop, false acacia honey accounted for 39 tons and 11 tons were brought in by other rare honey varieties.

In 2013, honey export reached its historical record with 3,371 tons, which was for the most part exported to Germany, Italy, Norway, France, Austria and Belgium.

Photo Tanjug, S. Ilic