The fishermen in Cádiz may have suffered a bad January because of the weather, but apiculturalists in Almeria suffered a bad 2008, losing 80% of their harvest.
Adverse weather caused the beekeepers of Almeria, 350 of them in total with 137,000 hives, to lose 80% of their production. Almeria is the leading beekeeping province in Andalucía and in 2007 produced one million kilos of honey. However, in 2008, the total fell to 200,000 kilos, mainly due to the weather.
A further problem, adding to their woes, is the increased imports of honey from China, Uruguay and Argentina. Not as fresh, not as good quality, but cheaper.
One hive yields about one kilo of wax and nine kilos of honey, for which the beekeepers get €1.00 and €0.70 respectively. Not a lot really.
Until 2013, the beekeeping sector is included in the Plan de Desarrollo Rural de Andalucía (Rural Development Plan for Andalucia) and the beekeepers are now asking for more aid to stimulate production.