Czech honey production lowest in four years
The Czech Republic’s honey production in 2018 was the lowest in the past four years, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office this week. Production of honey was four percent lower than in the previous year, dropping below 9,000 tonnes for the first time since 2014.
“Our production ranges between eight to ten thousand tonnes a year and we stayed within this range, so it wasn’t such a bad year after all,” she told Czech Radio.
She also said that unlike in the previous year, Czech bees produced a high amount of acacia and lime honey.
According to Milan Špaček of Medokomerc, a company producing honey and honey products, last year’s production was dominated by rapeseed and flower nectar.
“This is due to the fast onset of spring, when everything started to bloom pretty much at the same time. On the other hand, the production of dark honey was really minimal last year,” he said, adding that the quality of Czech honey was very high.
The Czech Republic has one of the highest numbers of bees in the world. According to a document, approved by the government I 2016, the ideal number of bee colonies in the Czech Republic should range around 700,000. Last year, the Czech Statistical Office recorded 632, 000.
Most beekeepers in the Czech Republic keep bees as a hobby. There are only around 100 professionals with over 150 bee colonies.
According to recent data, honey consumption in the Czech Republic increased by 6.7 percent in 2017 to one kilogramme a year. The price of honey currently hovers around 200 crowns per kilo.
