Polish beekeepers are closing their hives en masse. The market is flooded with “artistic honey”

Representatives of beekeeping associations warn that apiaries are being liquidated faster than last year, and up to 30% of all bee colonies may be lost. If this trend continues, it will be very difficult to get Polish honey – it will be expensive and rare. Those who want to maintain apiaries fear that high maintenance costs will lead to further problems, such as a lack of funds for the treatment of bee diseases.

I started with “Technical Honey”.

Until then, terms such as “baker’s honey” or “artificial honey”, also known as “artificial honey”, were used. At the same time, the term “technical honey” is reserved for products of extremely low quality that do not meet the standards, but thanks to the use of this name, it quickly crosses the border. The situation in Ukraine is used to import it to Poland.

– In fact, Ukraine is just a kind of intermediary, and honey often comes from China and Turkey, and it is of poor quality, which can have a negative impact on the health of people who consume it – says Przemyslaw Maciaj, a member of the board of the beekeeping association of the region. – These types of honey also have a negative impact on the Polish market. The price of this type of honey is very low, and many dishonest traders buy it and sell it as Polish products, misleading consumers, he adds.

It turns out that the trade in cheap and often dubious quality oriental honey continues. Many beekeepers will give up their business because there is no market for high-quality Polish honey. Polish beekeepers are losing the market for “artistic” honey. Therefore, the costs of maintaining apiaries become unbearable.

– These are mainly small apiaries, and we will be able to assess the scale of the problem in a few months, when we will receive full information about the number of bee colonies prepared for winter – says Przemysław Maciej. – However, I can already confirm today that there are problems with my group. A year ago there were about 1,500 bee colonies, now there are only about 1,000 of them, so we are talking about a decrease of one third in a short period of time – he explains.

Przemysław Maciąg and his wife Sylwia run an apiary in Ryszew near Pyrzyce. He doesn’t want to liquidate his money, but he points out another problem:

– At any moment we may be dealing with an environmental bomb.

Increased risk of bee diseases

Problems with honey sales translate directly into a lack of investment in the apiaries, as well as a lack of funds to cover fuel costs, buy new frames, increase the number of colonies, and most importantly, medicines.

– Bees get sick and often need medication, for example in the form of vaccines. The costs of these medications have risen dramatically, and not every beekeeper can afford them today, explains Przemysław Maciej.

This is where the fear comes in for those who still want to work with bees. Untreated insects in small apiaries can spread various diseases and infect other bee colonies.

– This is an ecological time bomb, if it happens we will face a mass extinction of bees. I think this will not be the case, but we should expect the worst, says Przemysław Maciej.

Beekeepers say that those who do not want to give up their activity make difficult decisions and reduce the number of colonies in the apiaries because they have a big problem selling honey.

At the moment, it is difficult to predict how much we will pay for honey at the end of the year. Everything indicates that honey from the East will flood the Polish market.