Romania: third place in the EU for honey exports

Romania was the third largest exporter of honey in the European Union in 2023, after Spain and Germany, according to Eurostat data published on World Bee Day on Monday.

On the other hand, Romanian beekeepers complain that there is not much of a market for local honey and that prices have fallen and will hardly cover their expenses.

Ioan Fetea, president of the Beekeepers' Association: Although the weather has put us a month ahead of previous years, we hope to have a higher production of honey, but the problem would be to find a market, to be able to exploit this surplus production. For two years now the market has been blocked, consumption has started to fall at European level. Between 10.000 and 15.000 tonnes are exported, almost half of Romania's production. Prices are derisory. Between 6 and 8 lei per kilogram of honey last year, because honey comes in from Ukraine, from China. Still, at 6 lei, a mockery for quality Romanian honey.

The authorities announce that beekeepers will receive state aid of almost 25 lei for each family of bees, following the war in Ukraine, and payments will be made by 30 June, Radio Romania Targu Mures reports.

Translated by: Radu Matei