Between the drought and the war in Ukraine, the factors all seem to be aligned to make the wallets of the French suffer. Day by day, the number of sectors that manage to escape inflation or potential stock shortages is decreasing. This time the honey that is touched.
Indeed, the year 2022 seems dramatic for farmers who fear an extremely low autumn production. A phenomenon which would be, in part, strongly favored by the drought.
“The flowers have roasted under the sun, in fact, the bees have no more nectar to feed themselves, hence a mortality in the colonies which has climbed up to 30%! It is enormous and rarely seen. The bees feed on nectar and their honey, and the young bees on bee bread, mixed with pollen and honey”, regret Philippe Loze, beekeepers at Ruchers de Belbèze and Philippe Marengo, bee health technician, in the columns of La Hurry.
A text voted by the National Assembly also declared the bee “great national cause 2022”, and provided for the removal of pesticides harmful to these insects. However, certain crops such as rapeseed or sunflower have become a priority following the start of the war in Ukraine and pesticides harmful to bees have thus been authorized again.
As Philippe Marengo confided to our colleagues, French honey production would be particularly low this year. In 2020, it stood at 31,800 tonnes of honey, 19,000 tonnes in 2021 and, for this year, projections estimate that it will amount to between 7,000 and 9,000 tonnes, according to figures from the National Union of Beekeepers.
Thus, with such a low production, it would not be surprising to see the price of French honey drastically increase in the coming months, while stocks will be greatly reduced.
