Extreme temperatures put Italian beekeeping under pressure: how strategies and new rules on the origin of honey are changing
Between the silent hives of the sun-baked Italian countryside and the illuminated aisles of supermarkets there is an invisible thread that tells of the fragility of our agriculture. The budget for 2025 takes a bitter snapshot: a torrid summer without rain has literally paralyzed the activity of bees, cutting national harvests to 31 thousand tons. What filled the void on the tables was not the patience of local producers, but a continuous flow of imports: over 26 thousand tons of foreign honey (+18%) crossed borders, demonstrating how extreme climatic events are silently redesigning the geography of our pantries.
The honey market situation for Conapi
In this context, Conapi, the cooperative from Monterenzio (Bologna) which brings together over 600 beekeepers, 100,000 hives and 5 billion bees in a short and controlled supply chain of conventional and organic honey, the largest in Europe, closes the year with a contribution from members estimated at over 2,000 tonnes, in line with 2025.
The latest balance sheet closes with a turnover of 24.5 million euros in the agricultural year 2025-2026, from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, and in the same agricultural year exports rise by 20 percent in volume and value in France and Japan, in particular with organic products from the Italian supply chain and Mielizia Bio in the French high-end organic distribution, with Canada and South Korea opening.
On the shelf, in a market stuck at 157 million euros (NielsenIQ, last 52 weeks to 23 August 2026, Total Italy), Mielizia grows by 2.8 percent in value and 8.6 percent in packaging, with the 100 gram Sportpocket, designed for sports and out-of-home, over the plus 40. From today, the jar carries the promise “From the flower to you” on the front, with the stamp of over 600 beekeepers and the words 100 percent Italian.
How to protect Italian honey with a new specification
The data were presented today in Milan, as part of the «Miele. Full stop”, from the general director Nicoletta Maffiniin the year in which Legislative Decree 207/2025, which transposes the European Breakfast Directive, brings the countries of origin of the blends with the percentages on the front of the jar from 14 June. “We are grateful for this step forward, but we believe it is still not enough,” he says Maffini. The decree provides for some exceptions: from the fifth country onwards the percentage may not appear, and below 30 grams China becomes “CN”.
Conapi, which already puts the nutritional table on the jars, which is not mandatory for honey, and a QR code to track the batch, hopes for the rapid entry into force of the Certified Quality Honey specification, the European examination of which closes on 14 October.
