Reading between the lines for our US cousins.....it seems the money for commercial keepers is in the pollination contracts not honey production. The major players seem to expect to loose hives left right and centre so spend their time making nucs to turn into hive to replace them for the next season.
I think it's something like $200 per hive for Almond pollination contracts. If you have a 1000 hives the money is not to be sniffed at.......