In 2022 the EU countries have increased imports of honey in physical form by almost 10% – up to 190.6 thousand tons, which in money equivalent is EUR504.2 million, said honey market analyst Anna Burka in Facebook.
According to her data, the EU increased imports from China by 42%, Argentina – by 35%, as well as from Turkey and Vietnam, while imports from Ukraine decreased in kind by 14%.
“Ukraine remains one of the main suppliers of honey to the EU, but in 2022 China ranks first in the ranking (in volume terms). At the same time, if we look at imports in money terms, Ukraine is still the leader,” the analyst noted.
According to data of the European Commission, as quoted by Anna Burka, in 2022 Ukraine supplied 46.09 tons of honey to the EU, which accounted for 24.2% of total imports. A year earlier, the figure was 53.836 thousand tons, and Ukraine had a 31% share of supplies. In 2029, supplies reached 54.8 thousand tons, which was 31.3% of all EU honey imports.
Judging by the four-year trends cited by the EC, EU consumption of honey, particularly imported honey, is on the rise. While in 2019, EU countries imported 167.097 thousand tons of it, in 2020 it increased by 4.7% to 174.912 thousand tons, in 2022 imports reached 190.591 thousand tons, an increase of 9.8% over the year before.
As reported, in 2022 88% of Ukrainian honey exports accounted for the EU countries, which brought exporters $120 million.
The main buyers of Ukrainian honey were Germany, which bought it for $38 million, Poland – $24 million, France – $11 million, Italy – $7 million, Spain – $6 million, Belgium – $6 million. Among the countries from other regions that imported Ukrainian honey were the US, which bought it for $10 million and Japan – $1.7 million. Minor volumes were supplied to Turkey, Israel, Qatar, UAE, Somalia.
