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3. Worldwide Bee Colonies and Industry.
The situation of bee products in the world is clearly divided into producing and consuming countries. By reviewing the statistical data published by FAOSTAT, specifically on product honey find information on how they have evolved hives stocks globally by continent, which is presented below for the period 2004-2010.
CONTINENTE 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 AFRICA 15,535,910 16,368,758 16,052,518 16,508,229 16,000,523 16,051,842
ASIA 20,891,970 21,303,942 21,401,243 21,779,113 22,488,814 22,786,591 AMERICA 10,459,189 10,706,021 10,414,480 10,407,677 10,568,540 10,852,984 EUROPE 16,103,161 16,413,905 16,374,956 15,763,450 15,619,835 15,787,227 OCEANIA 675,329 687,294 711,171 713,471 709,071 709,071 WORLDWIDE 63,665,559 65,479,920 64,954368 65,171,940 65,386,783 66,187,715
To collect and analyze statistical data on the overall world-wide number of bee colonies, regardless whether they are used for pollination or honey production, have been conducted either by public research institutes funded by Central Governments or by international organizations, e.g. the United Nations FAO or UNEP. Data is not available across all countries but a large majority has been mapped in the last 5-10 years by FAO, entomologists and other research groups.
3.1. The Americas
According to the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and recent USDA surveys, the overall number of US honey bee colonies in 2011 was in the range of 2.5-2.6 million. A strong consolidation process has been going on in the last decade due to colony losses and beekeepers running out of business. According to the last available USDA Census, almost 60-65% of the beekeeping farms have less than 10-15 bees colonies and less than 8% more than 1000 colonies
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each. In Canada, there were roughly 575,000 beehives in 2010 (source: Canadian Honey Council).
In the last decade, Central American farmers have started using bees for pollination due to a more global need for food sourcing and FAO Reports show a total number of 2.1 million colonies, of which approximately 1.8 million are located in Mexico.
After 1990, Argentinean beekeeping, traditionally focused on the production of honey for international markets, experienced a period of steep growth, specifically in the Northern provinces. Recent FAO studies and national research group data report a total number of nearly 3 million colonies, with a majority of them used to produce honey and very low average bee keeping. Today, Argentina is the largest exporter of honey in the world and the second largest producer.
In Brazil, the Africanized bee is the pollination insect most largely present in the apiary industry; according to entomologists reports, this species is more resistant to mites however like effects have been experienced in the last decade as in most of other geographical regions in the world. A realistic estimate by entomologists for the number of colonies is about 2.5 million.2
2 Bee and Natural Beekeeping; http://www.beesfree.biz/Beekeeping Countries
70,306 158,75 12,029 2,400,00
Canada 28 29 13,000 500,000
Latin America
Argentina 93,42 3
Mexico 50,63 31
Brazil 33,75 2
Uruguay 11,87 1
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In the 27 EU countries, the leading apicultural nations are Spain, France, Greece and Italy: At a European level, including Russia and former USSR Republics, FAO estimates tells us of approximately 29 million honey bees colonies.
Africa has a high potential for natural beekeeping; climate and forestry are favorable for a majority of the countries (with exceptions to the ones in the Saharan subcontinent). The business itself
does not require massive investment and the beekeeping culture and practices are easy to teach and learn.
Even in these developing countries FAO and local entomologists have recently reported losses of up to 25-30% of the colonies (especially in the Nile valley, in Egypt and Sudan).
2010 reports take the continental managed colonies to a total of nearly 16 million, with still a great potential for growth.3
3 Bee and Natural Beekeeping; http://www.beesfree.biz/Beekeeping
Ethiopia 41.23 40 4,400,000 Tanzania 28.68 28
Angola 23.77 23
Kenya 22 21
Egypt 16 200,000 2,000,000 Central
Africa Republic
14.23 14
Morocco 4.5 27,000 400,000 South
Africa
2.5 1.5 1,790 92,000
Countries
Ukraine 71.46 52
Russia 52.13 54
Spain 37 40
Germany 21.23 89 90,000 1,000,000
Hungary 19.71 4
Romania 19.2 10
Greece 16.27 16
France 15.45 30
Bulgaria 11.22 2
Serbia 3 to 5 6.3 30,000 430,000 Denmark 2.5 5 4,000 150,000
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China and India have both a century-long tradition of bee keeping.
In the recent past India has witnessed a revival of the organic beekeeping industry in the rich forest regions along the sub-Himalayan mountain ranges and the Western Ghats. In India, recent estimates of bee colonies are nearly 10 million, of which the large majority for honey production purposes.
According to FAO, China is the fastest growing country in the Far East for honey production and has almost reached the 9 million
mark of bee colonies in 2009, Reports describing the increasing impact of CCD problems on traditional farming and natural beekeeping industry have become a serious concern for many local governments.
Australia 18.46 16
New Zeland 9.69 8 2602 313,399
Asia
China 299.33 238 7,200,000
Turkey 82.34 66 4,500,000
Iran 3,500,000
India 52.23 45
South Korea 23.82 27
Vietnam 13.59 0
Turkmenistan 10.46 10
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 China
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4Worldwide we can find five countries have traditionally concentrated 50% of the total honey production (China, Argentina, Turkey, United States and the Russian Federation). The main producing continent is Asia, followed by Europe and thirdly America. From 2003 Argentina was ranked as the second largest producer surpassing for the first time in United States history. China has historically been the world´s largest producer of honey with a share of 22%
of world production and is the largest exporter.
In the next charts, we can observe how the exportation and importation is going per continent until the year 2009. The Asian Continent has a trade surplus primarily influence by China which is the largest producer of honey in the world. On the other hand Europe has a trade deficit in honey with a high consumer of honey. And the American Continent has a surplus being a net exporter of honey mainly to Europe.
Continue with Africa we observe a deficit on their trade having a excess of
$6,000 over their export. In the other hand we observe that Oceania has a Surplus on their honey trade which is even superior than the Asia continent.
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