Hungarian beekeepers are facing serious challenges this year due to the halved bee population and spring frosts, while cheap Ukrainian and Chinese honey imports are further complicating their situation.

Half of the domestic bee population died in the winter, and the frosts in early April destroyed the harvest of two-thirds of the Hungarian acacia forests, which are a major source of food for the country’s bees. The situation is further aggravated by honey imports, as Hungarian farmers cannot compete with the prices of products coming from Ukraine and China, Infostart wrote.

This year, domestic beekeepers are starting the season with only 600,000 to 700,000 bee colonies, instead of the usual 1.2 million.

Significant population losses are a problem worldwide, and experts see the solution in more effective control of the varroa mite, which is proving deadly to bee colonies. In addition, there are concerns about pesticides. Domestic losses have particularly affected part-time and hobby beekeepers, while full-time farmers have been better able to protect their populations.

The president of the National Hungarian Beekeeping Association spoke on InfoRádio that acacia trees are extremely sensitive to spring frosts, which drastically reduced the harvest this year. In Bács-Kiskun County, temperatures of minus 5 and minus 7 degrees Celsius were measured at the beginning of April, which caused serious damage. The expected second flowering due to frost usually results in a much worse honey yield, but the extent of the decline cannot yet be predicted. The lack of winter precipitation has also been a serious problem for years, especially in the case of woody bee pastures such as linden, sweet chestnut and acacia trees.

The cold caused significant damage

Péter Bross indicated that the acacia in the central mountains and valleys was almost completely frozen, only the flower buds remained on the hilltops, and on two April nights, the cold also caused significant damage in the Danube-Tisza region. Two weeks after the frosts, the acacia had already started to turn green, but only those trees with one-and-a-half to two-centimeter buds on their branches survived the period well. At the same time, the president of the National Hungarian Beekeeping Association added: “The inflorescences of the majority of the trees are pitch black, almost two-thirds of the domestic acacia forests were damaged by the frosts.” The acacia begins to bloom in mid-May, and the fate of this year’s honey harvest depends mostly on the weather in the coming weeks.

Hungary is considered a beekeeping powerhouse: In an average year, domestic farmers produce around 30,000 tons of honey, two-thirds of which is exported. Around 90 percent of the exports are purchased by Italy, Germany and France.

“Honey can always be sold, but unfortunately, more and more often at a price level that does not bring positive income to beekeepers. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the bee population halved across Europe last winter,” added Péter Bross. According to the president of the National Hungarian Beekeeping Association, the large-scale decline in the domestic bee population is a complex problem, the causes of which are still being sought, but “it is clear that the continuous deterioration of the environment also has something to do with it.”

Cheap honey from other countries like China, which is the world’s largest producer, has saturated world markets. In many cases, they can be only a sixth of the price of domestically produced honey in Europe. However, many Chinese producers are accused of diluting their honey with sugar syrups, which are not labeled.

The threat is also recognized in China. The Institute of Apicultural Research in Beijing wrote in a research paper: “In order to seek higher profits, high-quality honey is subjected to sugar adulteration through the addition of cheaper sweeteners.”

Mitchell Weinberg, a New York-based food fraud investigator, hired leading German laboratory OSI to test nine jars of UK supermarket honey bands. According to the Guardian, the researcher found “eight of the nine samples tested indicated adulteration, but the Food Standards Agency (FSA) says more work is required to ensure that such tests can be relied on.”