Comparative Advantages of the Hungarian Honey

Mucha, László – Oravecz, Titanilla – Totth, Gedeon – Illés, Bálint Csaba

Keywords: beekeeping sector, honey production, revealed comparative advantage, RCA, Q17

Beekeeping, as an economic and social activity, has a significant impact on the natural environment. It is also an essential element of sustainable development and it plays an important role in the development of rural areas. The importance of the sector goes far beyond its production functions because it is ecologically and biologically decisive as well. Beekeeping is an important element of the Hungarian economy, it contributes almost HUF 25-30 billion a year to the Hungarian animal husbandry. Honey produced in Hungary typically is exported to Western European countries. It has been a popular export product in recent decades, but Hungary’s honey export shows a declining trend. The present study is the second one in a series of articles. The aim of the research is to present the basic tendencies, the main processes of the Hungarian beekeeping sector, the reasons of changes and the main challenges of the sector. Using domestic and international databases, we describe the honey trade of the world, the European union, focusing on the Hungarian honey production. Examining the export and import data by using RCA indices we proved that Hungary has a revealed comparative advantage in terms of natural honey. Due to the stability of the sector and the positive externalities, we suggest the further support of the apiary.

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