Sticky spot: is Russia facing a shortage of honey

Some types of honey, for example, early acacia honey, ended on the market before the New Year, and late ones are rarely available in February, according to Rusprodsoyuz. The details are in the Izvestia article.

An inside look

Throughout Russia, there has been an increase in purchase prices for honey, and by 30-50% in the last six months alone. Raw materials are becoming more expensive faster than the federal networks are responding, and the beekeeping farms themselves have long been sold out, according to Rusprodsoyuz. The reason is considered to be drought in some regions and excessive humidity in others, which were observed in 2025 in areas where honey is traditionally produced. In addition to the risks of scarcity, the risks of a sharp increase in counterfeiting, which will occupy the economy segment, are growing.

The demand for high-quality honey is growing every year, the producers note and emphasize the vulnerability of the industry to climatic conditions.

—Weather conditions change every year," Ilya Ivlev, a hereditary beekeeper and owner of an apiary in the Altai Republic, told Izvestia. — Spring comes very early, but there are frosts in June and August. The year 2025 was lean: when it was very warm in April, the snow melted, honeybees bloomed, bees developed, preparing for a bribe in May-June (then acacia, primroses, willow and other plants bloom en masse). And then June followed, when for five days it was -12°C at night, and all the blooming honey plants froze. Thus, we lost the opportunity to collect the first honey. The bees lost their jobs and started swarming, resulting in a lot of extra work in the apiary.

According to Ivlev, the troubles did not end there.

— In July, an abnormal heat wave above 34 degrees followed. At this time, honeybees do not secrete nectar, and again there was no bribe or there was very little for this period. In the first days of August, there were frosts at night, and our main honey plant, sosuseria (popularly known as belkovka), freezes in parts. We are losing part of the bribe again. In August, the bees collected a little from the honeybees. But it is obvious that the weather is the main factor that affects the amount of honey in the season, complains Ilya Ivlev.

At the same time, he noted that there are a lot of fakes on the market, and a high-quality product can only be bought directly from an apiary from trusted beekeepers.

— We hope that the 2026 season will be favorable to us, as there are more and more honey lovers, — concluded the industry participant.

Risk factors

In addition to climate changes, many other factors affect the volume of honey produced and prices, said Yulia Makarenko, Deputy Director of the Banking Institute.

— The big problem is the purchase of bee colonies from abroad for breeding. The reason for this is sanctions and the lengthening of logistics routes. Only a part of the volume reaches farms, which sometimes turns out to be critically insufficient. In addition, beekeepers often live side by side with other agricultural producers, and not all of them are responsible for treating land with pesticides, and they do not always notify their beekeepers. Bees are extremely fragile organisms, and they often die from poisoning," she says.

According to the analyst, non-specific factors also put pressure on beekeepers.

—High costs of production and product certification, difficult access to government financial support for small farms, expensive loans — all this affects profitability," she says. — Beekeepers prefer to sell honey among regular customers directly, rather than sell it to processors with a very low margin and without going through mandatory procedures. Some manufacturers are closing down due to low profits or going into negative territory.

According to Rusprodsoyuz, two large honey processing plants left the market in 2025 alone.

But the shortage of honey is observed not only in the Russian Federation, Makarenko is sure.

— The shortage of natural honey is a big global problem. An increase in the average temperature, a shift in the flowering seasons of honey plants — all this reduces the number of bees. Also, the irrational use of agrochemicals, land plowing, and environmental pollution are changing ecosystems beyond recognition. "Nature" itself is also against bees: insects also die due to Varroa destructor mites, which cause wing deformities. Environmentalists all over the world are sounding the alarm," the expert says.

According to Makarenko, it is important to understand that the extinction of bees affects not only honey lovers.

—Three quarters of all agricultural crops (and these are everyone's favorite vegetables and fruits) depend on pollination by insects, in particular bees," she says.

Thus, the expert summarizes, risk factors are repeatedly superimposed on each other, which is why bees, farms, and consumers suffer in the face of rising prices.

Global market

Honey production leaders such as China, Turkey and Argentina are also facing climate challenges and declining bee populations, which is leading to higher global prices, said Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the VMT Consult agency.

According to statistics from the European Commission, Russia is consistently among the top ten largest honey producers in the world. According to data for 2020-2021, its share in the global volume is about 4% of global production. China remains the absolute leader, producing several times more than all other countries, followed by India, Turkey and Iran.

At the same time, domestic production in Russia is declining: in 2024, honey production amounted to about 64 thousand tons, which is several percent lower than in previous years, and the number of bee colonies has decreased by about 5% over the past 2-3 years, Kosareva added. This decrease is combined with the fact that more than 90% of honey is produced by small farms and personal subsidiary apiaries, and statistics on large farms are fragmentary.

At the same time, exports have become one of the market drivers. The main buyers were European countries (Slovakia, Serbia) and China. Honey imports to Russia remain very moderate — only a few dozen tons, mainly from the EU and Kazakhstan, and cover less than 1% of domestic demand, Kosareva added.

"Honey imports are minimal, but in certain market segments they compensate for the shortage of certain varieties, such as acacia and lime," she said.

Thus, the shortage in Russia is a reflection of both local production problems and global trends in reducing the supply of natural honey, which makes product prices more volatile and enhances the strategic value of developing domestic production, Kosareva concluded.

The Union of Beekeepers and Beekeeping Organizations of the country "Beekeeping" declined to comment.