A Study of the Yield of Honey in Farms from North-Eastern Bulgaria

Abstract

The aim is to study the prices, cost and profitability of honey from the Ruse region.  A serious problem has been defined for honey, which is a major product of regional beekeeping, respectively its profitability - steadily declining prices do not cover the rising costs of production and sale. The study found that the average prices of the online segment of organic honey compared to the same offline segment in packages of 1 kg have a difference of almost 2 times, and in the smallest cuts 3 times. The gross profit (margin) of the regional honey of the B2B offline markets in the biological and conventional segment for 2020 is negative.  The study found that own B2C online channels in the conventional segment achieve a net return of 48 BGN/year per beehive, and in the biological segment - 97.92 BGN/year per beehive. The latter provides 150 beehives with a net income of 1224 BGN/month, which is the yield on the sale of organic honey on the offline B2C markets with 950 beehives.  Marketing strategies of beekeeping farms in the Ruse region are needed to achieve competitiveness and profitability at the sectoral and regional level.

JEL: M31; Q13