The agenda for the meeting at MAIA also included proposals from sectoral associations – producers and exporters – regarding measures to support and revive beekeeping in Moldova following the severe crisis in 2025.
Current situation
According to a briefing note from the National Association of Beekeepers of the Republic of Moldova (ANARM), honey production in 2025 amounted to around 2,500 tonnes, a decrease of 50–55 per cent compared with the previous year. This is the lowest honey yield in the last 15 years.
The main reason for the decline was the severe frosts last spring, which caused significant damage to the nectar-producing flora: there was no acacia honey harvest at all, whilst the linden harvest fell to approximately 70 per cent of the usual level.
This was followed by a severe summer drought and a rainy autumn. Many bee colonies entered the winter in a weakened state, which led to significant losses following overwintering.
Consequently, according to forecasts by industry organisations, the honey harvest in 2026 is unlikely to exceed 3,000 tonnes.
Despite the decline in production, around 4,500 tonnes of honey were exported from Moldova during the 2024/25 marketing year. However, exports during this period were primarily drawn from commercial stocks accumulated in previous years.
Nevertheless, these high export volumes did not lead to an increase in revenue for industry operators. Export prices for Moldovan honey, after peaking in 2022 ($3.8/kg), plummeted in the 2023–24 season ($2.34–2.5/kg) and recovered only partially in 2025 ($3.3/kg).
According to estimates by the ANARM association, beekeepers’ revenues at the end of last year fell by approximately 40 per cent compared with relatively favourable sales seasons.
The average price of honey from the 2026 harvest exported from Moldova has fallen again: over the three quarters, it averaged around $3.19/kg.
Beekeepers’ proposals for restructuring the sector
In the context of VAT reform, operators in the beekeeping sector are proposing to reduce the VAT rate on honey from the current (basic) level of 20 per cent to a (preferential) level of 8 per cent.
As ANARM Director Ion Maxim notes in this regard, the standard 20 per cent rate currently applied to honey “increases the final price for the consumer and reduces official sales on the country’s domestic market”. According to the head of the industry association, the application of a high standard rate to honey ‘does not reflect the nature of this unique food product, which has recognised nutritional and medicinal value’.
Furthermore, the high VAT (value-added tax) rate on honey is at odds with the general European trend. For instance, Ireland applies a zero VAT rate to this product, Luxembourg 3 per cent, Spain 4 per cent, Italy and Poland 5 per cent, France 5.5 per cent, Germany 7 per cent, Romania and Bulgaria 9 per cent, and Austria 10 per cent.
As a compromise solution, trade organisations within Moldova’s beekeeping sector, according to their representatives, could, under certain conditions, agree to a 12 per cent VAT rate on honey, as proposed by the government for the taxation of many types of agricultural produce.
Leaders of industry associations argue that, given the relatively small current volume of commercial honey production – around 2,500–3,000 tonnes – the impact of a reduced VAT rate on state budget revenue would be negligible. This is all the more so given that, out of Moldova’s approximately 9,000 beekeepers, fewer than a hundred operators in this sector are VAT payers. A high tax rate will certainly not increase their number.
Stakeholders in the beekeeping sector are also proposing to maintain the income tax rate at source (when traders and exporters purchase honey from beekeepers) at the current level of 6 per cent. The industry operators believe that the increase in this tax to 7 per cent, as envisaged in the draft tax policy, will reduce beekeepers’ already low income levels.
Furthermore, an increase in the tax burden will have a negative impact on the competitiveness of Moldovan honey in foreign markets (where it is sold at a low price in bulk rather than in consumer-sized packs).
In this regard, the leaders of Moldova’s beekeeping associations highlight the important fact that, given the significant contribution (pollination) to improving ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity, beekeepers in the European Union benefit from preferential tax regimes. In a number of EU countries, they are exempt from income tax.
Furthermore, in some European countries – including Romania – beekeeping is incentivised through direct payments: up to 8 per cent of the price per kilogramme of officially sold honey.
Given the relatively small quantity of commercial honey sold on Moldova’s domestic market, such subsidies could redirect the flow of goods into the official, legal channel.
Finally, a long-standing, unresolved problem facing Moldova’s beekeeping sector is the extremely high cost of feed during the harsh winter and spring periods. For many years, beekeepers have been asking the authorities for targeted subsidies to purchase sugar in emergency situations – but so far without success.
Following the meeting of the Sectoral Advisory Council on Beekeeping, MAIA Minister Eugen Osmocescu requested more detailed calculations and assessments of the situation from the sectoral associations, so that these could be submitted to the parliamentary committee on agriculture for consideration – as grounds for providing anti-crisis aid to the sector.
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