Unfair prices of Serbian honey to be made history? – Will the construction of the facility in Raca solve the buyout problems?

Meadow, linden, acacia, floral and sunflower honey from Serbia will soon be available in local and foreign stores and markets under a single brand – Nas Med. This will be enabled thanks to the facility for the collection and the marketing of honey in Raca, the foundation stone for which was laid down on June 25. Officially, as the Beekeepers Association Organization (SPOS) told eKapija, the construction will start in around 10 days, and the completion is expected by the end of the year.

Let us remind that SPOS is building the honey plant in cooperation with the Municipality of Raca, which was the the one to offer the best conditions out of 32 local self-governments and was therefore chosen as the home to this facility.

The first factory of this type in Serbia, with the capacity of around 3,000 tons a year, was initiated by beekeepers, who will be able to achieve a fair price of honey in the market thanks to its construction, SPOS points out. The facility will collect and market the honey produced by beekeepers from all over Serbia.

The idea is for beekeepers to market their own honey, without intermediaries and extortion by unfair purchasers, thereby having their honey marketed at realistic prices, as opposed to the current prices offered by purchasers, which are unrealistically low, they say.

As pointed out at the laying down of the foundation stone for the factory in Raca, Serbian beekeepers have been underappreciated in the local market for decades now, and the low purchasing price of honey, offered by purchasers for years, is one of the biggest problems.

Rodoljub Zivadinovic, the president of SPOS, points out in his interview with our portal that the new facility will protect all Serbian beekeepers and provide them with fair market conditions and offer realistic prices to all those looking to sell their honey through the facility.

– Beekeepers in Serbia are experiencing great problems. They are unable to sell honey directly, and purchasers are lowering the prices – he points out.

This is confirmed by honey producer Aleksandar Rankovic from Djurdjevo, who hopes that the price of honey will be stabilized thanks to the new facility and that Serbian beekeepers will no longer be targets for extortion.

– There was a problem in 2015, when we were selling a certain amount of honey to a certain purchaser. One price was agreed, and the purchasers paid us another. The agreed price had been EUR 4.5 and we were paid 4. The reason they cited was that the payment is done after the measuring, although we had sent the honey, performed an analysis and sealed the barrels at the agreed price – explains Rankovic, who is convinced that the price of honey will be more stable thanks to the construction of this facility.

Formation of purchasing price

It is not yet known, however, at which price the honey will be purchased at the new plant in Raca.

The purchasers in the market are welcoming the opening of one such facility. Ivan Grujic, the director of Medino, which produces, purchases, processes, packages and distributes honey and other bee products, says for eKapija that they are glad that a facility such as Nas Med is opening, as Serbia needs another company that promotes Serbian beekeeping.

– Healthy market competition is something we certainly need – our interviewee points out.

– This year, Medino's share in the export of honey from Serbia amounted to 60.3%. We are currently offering some of the highest purchasing prices for acacia honey in the region, EUR 3.8 per kilogram, whereas the price is lower in the countries of the region. We are therefore not sure that SPOS will be able to increase the purchasing price, considering the prices of honey in the region – Grujic explains.

According to him, the price of acacia honey per kilogram is EUR 3.43 in Romania, EUR 3.68 in Hungary and EUR 3.5 in Bulgaria, whereas in Moldova, for example, which exported more than 5,000 tons last year, nearly twice as much as Serbia (2,548 tons), the purchasing price is EUR 3.6.

In response to this and the question of the price at which the honey will be purchased at the new facility, SPOS says:

– If we know that there is a company in Serbia which offers EUR 4.5 per kilogram of acacia honey, whereas Medino offers EUR 3.8, that's a question for Medino, not for SPOS, and SPOS will show this in practice – they point out.

The purchasing price at the Raca facility, they explain, will depend on the market price at the moment the facility starts purchasing honey. As for the buyout model they point out that it will be a classic model – after the honey is delivered, the producer will be paid for the amounts delivered.

Record production in 2018

According to SPOS data, there are currently over 1,100,000 registered beehives in Serbia, whereas the country is among world leaders when it comes to the number of beehives per capita. Also, Serbian honey is second only to that produced in New Zealand in quality.

This year, according to SPOS data, around 9,000 tons of honey have been produced, which is the best result since 2013, when 5,000 tons were exported, with revenues amounting to USD 13 million.

At the Raca plant, they add, both conventional honey and honey falling under the SPOS quality standard - Good Beekeeping Practice (DPP), as an exclusive product at an affordable price, will be processed, whereas the export will initially exceed 95% of the total processing of honey.

Sandra Petrovic

Savez pčelarskih organizacija Srbije

Medino d.o.o. Krnjevo

SPOS

Raca honey facility

Raca honey factory

Raca honey collection facility

Raca honey marketing facility

Nas Med Raca

honey in Serbia

price of honey in Serbia

price of honey in the region

price of honey in Hungary

price of honey in Romania

price of honey in Bulgaria

export of honey from Serbia

export of honey

Rodoljub Zivadinovic

purchasing price of honey

honey purchasers in Serbia

production of honey

honey buyout