HONEY PRODUCTION STATISTICS AND HONEY CONSUMPTION IN ESTONIA

Client: Eesti Kutseliste Mesinike Ühing

Period: 2020

In this study we give a detailed overview of honey production statistics and honey consumption in Estonian households which will be published by Statistics Estonia. To estimate the amount of honey produced, Statistics Estonia combines: data compiled by the Veterinary and Food Board data collected by manufacturers about the quantity of honey handled, data on the number of beehives registered in the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB), data of household production obtained from a survey. Since the estimate of total production is based on several assumptions, we wish to publish, among other things, the regularly collected data used for the basis of estimates of total production. This would make production data more transparent to users.

We analyzed the production and purchasing of honey for oneself from the data of Statistics Estonia’s household budget survey (LEU) and the Estonian social study (ESU) survey.

About 6000-10,000 Estonian households produce honey for themselves. On average, 11-13 kg of honey a year is produced for oneself. This makes up of 8-16% (approx. 100 tonnes) of all Estonian honey production. A household that produces honey for itself also gives free honey to other households (on average, to slightly over one other household). Others are given less honey than is produced for one’s own family.

About 5-6% of households buy honey every two weeks. In total, 780,000–910,000 purchases are made in a year and 600-1,300 tonnes of honey is purchased. The analysis of survey data does not show a growth trend of Estonian people’s honey purchases since 2010. At the same time, Statistics Estonia’s production statistics show a significant growth trend from 681 tonnes to 1,288 tonnes in 2019. However, since the confidence interval of the survey data based estimate is very wide, this trend’s existence cannot be excluded.

The honey production and consumption in Estonia by resident is quite a lot compared to other countries. The average estimated consumption in Estonia by person is 1,15 kg and by production is 0,88 kg. Those figures are 0,51 and 0,55 kg in other countries.

The study was commissioned by EESTI KUTSELISTE MESINIKE ÜHING and funded by EESTI MESINDUSPROGRAMM 2020-2022.