The fifteenth edition of the Honey Fair is organized between August 16-19, in the square of the Nativity Metropolitan Cathedral. On the first day of the fair, almost 20 beekeepers from different districts exhibited their bee products, IPN reports.

Sergiu Timciuc, a beekeeper from Vadul lui Vodă, says that this year's harvest is comparable to last year's, maybe even better. Hailstorms did not affect his activity, as in the case of other beekeepers. He is selling honey at the same price per kilo as last year. "If we raise the prices, we will not have anything to do with the merchandise, which should be sold. But to give it wholesale to collectors is not convenient. We have transportation expenses, workers, materials and other necessities”, said the beekeeper.

Valentina Cebotari, a beekeeper within the Association of honey producers, processors and exporters, says that she is participating in the fair in order to promote bee products, because it is the time when people are making honey stocks for winter. At the same time, she says that in Moldova, honey consumption per capita is the lowest, as compared to other EU or even CIS countries, that is why she comes to urge consumers to buy natural honey directly from producers.

Ion Toma is from Chisinau, but his apiary is located in Calarasi. The beekeeper mentions that he came to the fair with six types of honey: linden, acacia, pumpkin, multiflower, forest and rapeseed. The harvest is not bad, says Ion Toma, but the problem is that farmers treat the fields with different chemicals and bees dies when they go out to collect pollen. Although prices remained at the level of the last year, honey is not in demand. "Customers are the same as they have been for years. The problem is that there is more honey and we have no one to sell it to,” Ion Toma said.

Ion Maxim, chair of the National Association of Beekeepers, previously told IPN that this year the estimated quantity of honey was over six thousand tons. Acacia honey, one of the most demanded types of honey on the market, was collected in smaller quantities as compared to last year due to the cold and rainy weather. Generally, wholesale honey is sold for up to 80 lei per kilo, if the pollen content reaches 20% and for 60-65 lei per kilo, if it is less rich in pollen. In particular, wholesale linden honey costs, this year, between 45 - 55 lei per kilo, while multiflower honey is sold for 35-40 lei per kilo. On the market acacia honey costs 100-120 lei a kilo, linden honey 80-100 lei a kilo and multiflower honey 50-70 lei a kilo.

There are over seven thousand beekeepers in Moldova. Last year more than four thousand tons of honey have been exported.