Bee hive theft on rise in Australia as almond prices soar

THE WORLD’S most valuable pollinator is under attack.

Bees, responsible for an estimated $15 billion (R206bn) of crop output in the US, play an essential role in almond production. With the nut fetching record prices, the insects have become the asset to own – or steal – in Australia’s biggest almond-producing region.

Thieves have stolen hives with as many as 5 million bees in the north-west corner of Victoria state and the robberies have intensified in the past two months.

With the insects in short supply, police say there is high demand for hives in the local almond orchards, where farmers are cashing in on surging global demand amid a fourth year of drought in California, the biggest producer.

“From a producer’s perspective, you can make a lot of money at the moment trading your almonds,” said Marc Soccio, an analyst at Rabobank International in Melbourne.

The thefts were “symptomatic of a relative shortage of bees. People are scrambling around to pollinate their crops.”

Almonds stand out in a year where almost every other commodity from oil and coffee to copper and zinc has fallen. Almond tree blossoms last only a few weeks. That means growers short of hives at the critical pollination period need to find bees fast to profit from the nut’s soaring price.

Australia will produce 75 000 tons of almonds in 2015, an almost fivefold increase from 2006.