Uruguay: Record honey export volume in 2020 but with little profit margin for beekeepers

Beekeepers say the profit margin for producers was meager. The export of honey was a record in 2020, the sale of this Uruguayan product abroad reached 15,000 tons, the highest volume exported in the last two decades. In September 2020, 13,102 tons had already been exported, according to the yearbook of the Office of Agricultural Programming and Policy (Opypa). Ruben Riera, president of the Uruguayan Beekeeping Society (SAU) confirmed to El Observador that the record export figures were exceeded, but said that the volume does not reflect a very favorable situation for the sector. “Whoever sees those numbers says 'how good the sector is', but we have to wait. Although there is a very positive environment in beekeeping, because prices are rising for the producer, the honey that has been sold, those 15 million kilos, did not exceed 2 dollars per kilo until November, that is, for that honey the producer earned very little money, "he indicated. The beekeepers who exported in 2020, ...