In all 5,934 agricultural holdings and households produced honey in Estonia in 2012, including 17 professional beekeepers having more than 150 hives and more than 5,200 people keeping bees as a hobby, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Ministry says beekeepers in Estonia number almost 6,000
26th March 2013, 18:22
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"Honey production in Estonia is concentrated in the Saare, Parnu and West-Viru countries, agricultural holdings in which have the biggest numbers of beehives," Marje Josing, director of the Estonian Institute of Economic Research, said at a presentation of the survey on beekeeping in Estonia at the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday.
In 2012, honey was sold at markets in Estonia for an average 7 euros per kilogram, the institute said.
Beekeepers in Estonia produced an estimated 1,000 tons of honey last year. Over the past dozen years the average yield of honey per beehive has doubled from 14 kilograms in 2000 to 27 kilograms last year.
Of the year's honey output of one thousand tons an estimated 748 tons was sold, including an 460 estimated tons by professional producers. Almost a tenth of professional beekeepers sold more honey than they produced during 2012, meaning that stocks from the previous year were sold.
Beekeepers organizations estimate that Estonia's exports of honey probably were in the range of a couple of tens of tons in 2012, as the sector is producing less than the Estonian market consumes and the price of honey on the world market is low.
"Since production of honey is smaller than consumption in Estonia and beekeepers already are finding opportunities for export, we hope the production of honey to grow in the near term and beekeeping to emerge as a significant source of income for as big a number of beekeepers as possible," said Illar Lemetti, deputy secretary general for agricultural and rural development policy at the Ministry of Agriculture.