Hi from Bulgaria

FERRARIST · April 05, 2007, 01:34:11 PM

We are family of beekeepers, my dad is the chief, me and my mam are his left and right arm.....
Have 200 hives, and we can gather depending on year and weather about 4 - 7 ton per year.
We don't move our hives during year, and if we do, can rise our crop a bit.
Bulgarian honey is mostly for export, because our people simply did'nt consume honey like Germans for instance. Our bee traders is not fair with us, 1 kilo is little much more expensive in comparison with 1 kilo sugar.
And if single beekeeper want to survive, must find markets in others near country...as we start to do....

pdmattox · April 05, 2007, 03:09:54 PM

I would like to welcome you to the forums and hope you enjoy your time here and make many friends. We have members from all over the globe and it is great to hear thier ideas and cultures from all over. Again welcome and enjoy.

Understudy · April 05, 2007, 05:02:30 PM

Welcome to the forums.
How difficult is it for you to export your honey?
I understand Germany has some strict standards for their honey.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

ZuniBee · April 05, 2007, 05:37:30 PM

Welcome! I love how this forum brings people together in friendship from all around the globe. I look forward to hearing about beekeeping in your part of the world.

FERRARIST · April 06, 2007, 03:53:48 PM

Quote from: Understudy on April 05, 2007, 05:02:30 PM
Welcome to the forums.
How difficult is it for you to export your honey?
I understand Germany has some strict standards for their honey.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Extremely difficult......and it's large exporters fault about that......and they have hives too....and produce some amount of honey too....
It's simple - single beekeeper can live very well with earnings from its yearly honey production if he can sell it to the very end user(consumer). As i said "single beekeeper can lie well", i mean all of my family, and the minimum amount of honey we need is 3-4 tons\yr.
But here is the problem - we can sell to the end honey user more than 2-2,5 tons during bee-inactive off-season(september-march), simply because year to year honey consumption gets lower and lower. And that's because large bee dealers flood our market with fake honey, and people slowly began to stop eating honey. And our bee traders have previously proven markets in West Europe, and didnt care about so called small beekeepers. If BG people didnt eat honey, we must sell to traders for price actually equal to sugar price - here 1 kilo sugar is 0,9 euro, they buy honey to 1 - 1,1 euro. Great deal, right?
And some beekeepers thinks - "If they lie me like that, i'll lie back" - and made honey mostly from sugar.
And thats why some thinks that our honey sometimes sucks.....sometimes they are right....but if it's real, it is used for cultivating Chiniese honey in W.Europe and Germany- BG traders export to Germany mostly....
So if we want to survive, must individually find markets outside BG, Greece maybe or Italy.....or we will be smashed by the dealers.....

Mici · April 07, 2007, 07:35:47 PM

you're absolutely right!
we had a meeting on friday, and there was this guest, who looked deeply into german market and some other individuals are also reserching the european market. conclusion, honey which is selled for maybe 5â,¬ in Slovenia is worth at least 12â,¬ in germany.
large dealers are...making fun of local honey, they just refuse to buy floral honey, they rather import it..
bah, why should i tell you about our situation, yours is the same

but tell me, how come you have such pricy sugar? a euro per kilo is a lot! our price is...70 to 80 cents a kilo.
and welcome to the forum!

Michael Bush · April 07, 2007, 08:27:49 PM

I'm afraid the honey industry is the same everywhere. Except we don't export. Our packers control the price by importing honey from everywhere else and undercutting all the US beekeepers.

FERRARIST · April 08, 2007, 02:53:05 AM

Quote from: Mici on April 07, 2007, 07:35:47 PM
but tell me, how come you have such pricy sugar? a euro per kilo is a lot! our price is...70 to 80 cents a kilo.
and welcome to the forum!

"honey which is selled for maybe 5â,¬ in Slovenia is worth at least 12â,¬ in germany" - as you said it.......
I'll dare to imagine if BG beekeepers can sell its honey at half german price, or just even Slovenian 5 euro - we will live pretty much like rich peoples here......4 tons x 5 euro = 20000euro = 40000 bg leva(our currency) - here a middle range Yearly income per person is - 3000 euro - do the math........

FERRARIST · April 08, 2007, 02:57:08 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on April 07, 2007, 08:27:49 PM
I'm afraid the honey industry is the same everywhere. Except we don't export. Our packers control the price by importing honey from everywhere else and undercutting all the US beekeepers.

How much do you earn from polinating(excuse my poor english)? I'm just curious, because we only hear that someone can pay for this...... :'( :'(

Understudy · April 08, 2007, 11:47:06 AM

Quote from: FERRARIST on April 08, 2007, 02:57:08 AM
Quote from: Michael Bush on April 07, 2007, 08:27:49 PM
I'm afraid the honey industry is the same everywhere. Except we don't export. Our packers control the price by importing honey from everywhere else and undercutting all the US beekeepers.
How much do you earn from polinating(excuse my poor english)? I'm just curious, because we only hear that someone can pay for this...... :'( :'(

Not all beekeepers do pollination. It is expensive to do. And the price varies depending on the crop you are pollinating. The gold standard is the California Almond crop. They tend to pay the highest. With CCD and gas prices in the US the average price right now is about $125USD / $93.4 Euro per hive.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Michael Bush · April 08, 2007, 02:25:13 PM

Last year I made $200 on pollination. Four hives in an apple orchard.

That's the only time I've ever done it.

Understudy · April 08, 2007, 07:04:38 PM

Michael,

Stick with natural beekeeping methods you are great at them.
As a salesman stirking a deal, you sell yourself short. :lol:

pdmattox:
What are you doing per hive for the orange groves?

Sincerely,
Brendhan

FERRARIST · April 09, 2007, 12:31:29 PM

Quote from: Understudy on April 08, 2007, 11:47:06 AM
about $125USD / $93.4 Euro per hive.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Well....if you come sometimes in Bulgaria and meet some ordinary beekeeper, and tell him that someone can pay you such money for something like this, he never believe you....but first of all he would never believe that there is somebody that even pay for this(pollination)...... :? :?

Understudy · April 09, 2007, 01:42:36 PM

Quote from: FERRARIST on April 09, 2007, 12:31:29 PM
Quote from: Understudy on April 08, 2007, 11:47:06 AM
about $125USD / $93.4 Euro per hive.

Sincerely,
Brendhan
Well....if you come sometimes in Bulgaria and meet some ordinary beekeeper, and tell him that someone can pay you such money for something like this, he never believe you....but first of all he would never believe that there is somebody that even pay for this(pollination)...... :? :?

That is why it is refered to as a capitolist country(USA). If there is a way to charge for it, an american will find it. Since I am not familar with the Bulgarian country side, I will say this. Farming in America is big business. I mean big business. It takes up a lot of land also. There are not enough bees naturally to pollinate the fields. If the pollination doesn't take place the crops are not produced. The farmer doesn't make money(at least that is the basic idea, economics can be a very tricky business). The farmer who may have hundreds of acres of farmland with hives he will get greater pollination and thus greater crop production(provided nature cooperates, nature can be a tricky business). Now if the farmer doesn't own the beehives he can lease the hives from a bee farmer. The bee farmer has lots of hives, thousands. He will move the hives to the property of the farmer. The bee farmer maintains the hives and makes sure they stay healthy so lots of bees go out and pollinate the many acres of land the farmer has. The farmer doesn't have to pay the cost of buying hives and bees he just has to pay the bee man. And that is less than the farmer having to own all the equipment for the beehives. The farmer has to abide by certain rules he cannot spray pesticides that will kill the bees. Because dead bees hurt everyone. So it is a mutal thing.

I can understand how someone from another country might be astonshied by the way things are done here. Wait untill they see the amount of equipment and items the farmer uses for his fields. Like I said earlier, farming is big business.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

asprince · April 09, 2007, 10:02:41 PM

Last summer I saw atleast 100 hives next to a cotton field near my home here in Georgia. Then one day they were all gone. Steve

beehive lane · April 15, 2007, 04:31:18 AM

I am an American, yet was raised all over the world. I lived in Latvija for almost four years, and worked the summers at my boyfriend's country home. We raised bees... well ,and everything for the cold winter. people want the new ways. They will come around. Honey is the old way, refined sugar in a package is the new way. Plastic bags and sugar may become the past? You will find your market. "Svieks no ASV!"