the sad results of a year of “climate rebounds”

“We had rain, rain, and more rain”summarizes François Boulet, a beekeeper from Isolde at the end of his career. “It rained during each flowering period, so the bees were very hungry and we had to feed them with syrup”he regrets, drawing a very negative assessment of the year 2024.

Monday, November 25, 2024, around sixty members of the Indre Beekeepers' Union gathered at the Belle-Isle village hall in Châteauroux for their general meeting. The opportunity to discuss the many “challenges of the past year”which Jean-Michel Prompt, president of the association, describes as a year “climate rebounds”.

“We have more and more costs, but the selling prices of our products continue to fall”

The vagaries of the weather in spring 2024 damaged the various flowerings, and prevented the bees from going out to forage and feed. As a result, Indian beekeepers consumed a lot of syrup. “We emptied our stocks this yearlaunches Jean-Michel Prompt while addressing the assembly, by consuming forty-seven tons of syrup. » The information did not fail to make the audience react, shocked by the quantity. “Usually, we are between twenty and thirty tonnes per year. »

Many beekeepers present deplore “poor harvests in small quantities”. Like its members, the president of the union reports a “bad year” for honey producers, but he specifies that “the results are not catastrophic”the season having been “caught up at the end of summer »when temperatures rose and the sun came out.

Poor sale of French honey

In addition to the problematic weather for crops, and therefore for bees, wholesale prices for honey have also fallen again this year. “Today, we sell below the cost price per tonne”deplores François Boulet. Depending on the type of honey, prices vary. For all flowers, they range between €4 and €4.30 per kilo. For rapeseed or sunflower honey, the price drops below €4.

“It’s a disaster for professionals”says François Boulet. “We have more and more costs, but the selling prices of our products continue to fall”deplores the one who comes to qualify his passion for beekeeping as « virus ». Faced with this problem, the union notes “a lot of honey stored by beekeepers” of the department.

He also regrets that the prices of French honey are “pulled down by industrial honey”and imports of “Ukrainian honey”one of the main suppliers to the French market, at ridiculous prices, below €2 per kilo. As honey consumption in France is four times greater than national production, these imports respond to consumer demand. But “we cannot competeregrets François Boulet, and the Ukrainians, I don’t know how they manage to sell it so cheaply”.