Beekeeping: why are product prices rising?

The increase in operating costs, the weakening of bees are factors that contribute to the rise in prices

Beekeeping is becoming more and more expensive. In recent years, beekeepers have had to cope with rising raw material costs and falling revenues. As we all know, in recent years, bees have suffered severe weakening due to pollution and other environmental factors.

For this reason, the colonies needed more attention, more treatments and in some cases even more nourishment from the beekeepers. Factors such as heavy rains or on the contrary long periods of drought have had direct consequences on the blooms. In the absence of nectar sources, beekeepers had to feed the bees with sugary solutions to allow them to survive.

In addition to this, beekeepers have also had to face the increase in the costs of essential products such as those for candied fruit, sugar but also for other materials useful in the sector such as wood.

This combination of situations has created considerable difficulties for beekeepers, forcing them to increase the selling prices of bee products.

The increase in costs that farmers bear is a phenomenon that must be controlled. Rising commodity prices threaten to greatly damage this important sector by threatening the profitability of existing businesses and discouraging new beekeepers.

Honey: a luxury product

honey is turning into a real luxury product. Due to lower productivity, honey is becoming an increasingly sought after product. In just six years, the cost of honey has risen by about 25% and continues to rise.

The weakening of bees and the depopulation of colonies is making production increasingly difficult, so much so that honey is defined as a luxury product.

In Italy, the topic was also taken up by Coldiretti who stressed the importance of beekeeping not only for the production of honey, but also for other food products.

What are the costs that beekeepers have to bear?

Beekeepers bear various expenses during the production year. Some expenses are fixed, others depend on the price fluctuations of the raw materials they need.

There are also some budgeted expenses but also some that can be unexpected. Basic costs relate to equipment, supplies, raw materials and transport costs. There may also be unexpected extra costs such as those for treatments in the case of parasites or the purchase of sugary solutions to feed the bees when they are unable to produce enough food supplies to survive.

Apicoltura Laterza: our price list for 2023

Apicoltura Laterza has been involved in the production and sale of queen bees for over 20 years, bee cores and bee packs of the highest quality. Our bees possess the most sought after characteristics such as docility and good productivity.

Here's our price list for 2023:

• Bee packs: € 70;
• Buckfast and Ligustiche Queen Bees: € 16;
• Honeycombs on 5 frames: € 105 and € 100 over 50 units.

Why did Apicoltura Laterza prices rise?

In 2022 we faced higher regime costs. Beekeeping is part of a sector that needs a lot of raw materials to move forward. When the costs of raw materials rise, we beekeepers too are forced to increase the selling prices.

During this year we needed to hire more staff to try to maintain an optimal production line. Another impacting factor was the increase in prices for wood which in beekeeping is essential for the "packaging" and shipping of bee packs.

The increase in the price of diesel fuel did not help as it caused very high costs for transport and shipping.

The general costs of raw materials have increased by about 20% - 30% more. The costs of candied fruit and sugar (materials widely used in beekeeping to feed bees) have also increased, causing a much higher budget of management costs than in other years.