As for all the other EU beekeepers, there is a strong competition from non-EU countries, such as China and Ukraine, offering cheaper imports. There is also CCD – the loss of bee colonies due to diseases and deteriorating food sources due to pesticides. Weather is also decisive and this continually changing climate is a challenge for everybody.
The small apiary size, which is in average 69 bee families/apiary. If an apiary is that small, it cannot allow a higher marketed honey amount, a lower production cost, and a higher income for beekeeper.
According to the EU, the Standard Output for a bee family is 52.26 SO. But taking into account the “EU funding to support beekeepers to enlarge their apiaries, the small farms size should range between Euro 8,000 and 11,999 Euro SO (meaning 155-229 bee families) and the medium and larger sized apiaries should have between Euro 12,000 and 50,000 SO (meaning 230- 957 bee families)”. (Ene Andra Elena, 2015, EU Funds for beekeepers)
– The climate change from year to year, the alternation of extreme temperatures, severe droughts, high rainfalls, cold winters etc all have a negative influence on the bee family power, pickings and
