VALENCIA, June 7 () –
The Valencian Farmers Association (AVA-Asaja) denounced this Friday that the drought, unfair competition and the 15 percent drop in honey prices in the last year are “ruining” beekeepers.
The agricultural organization has mainly highlighted the massive entry of imports from third countries that “saturate the community market in conditions of unfair competition” and that “are putting at risk the subsistence of thousands of families who are dedicated to a beekeeping activity that is essential for pollination and biodiversity”.
AVA-Asaja has launched a series of demands to both administrations and distribution chains to try to “alleviate” the “critical” situation of beekeepers. On the one hand, it reiterates to the European Union that it stops signing trade agreements with third countries that encourage the arrival of imports at a price “well below” European production costs. The “last blow” is the withdrawal of tariffs on imports from Ukraine, which “puts downward pressure on quotes at origin.”
Likewise, the agricultural organization urges distribution chains to “prioritize” European honey in their points of sale over honey imported from China to benefit the profitability of beekeepers and avoid fraud for consumers.
According to the organization, an investigation by the European Commission itself found that 74% of the samples of Chinese honey imported into the EU “were suspected of failing to comply with Community standards, in particular for being artificially transformed and incorporating sugar syrup, which allows them to reduce their production costs and deliver the product four times cheaper on average than the European one, which does meet all the established requirements.”
AVA-Asaja joins the demand launched by the French agricultural organization FNSEA by requesting the distribution to remove Chinese honey from its shelves “to give prominence to European honey, and to clearly specify on the labeling the origin of the honey and , if applicable, the percentages of origins in the honey mixtures”.
The head of the AVA-Asaja beekeeping sector, Pascual del Valle, has defended that the honey produced in Europe “is the best there is, due to the highest quality standards it guarantees, but many times supermarkets offer honeys mixed with just a 3% Spanish honey to make the bottle cheaper.”
“DECEPTION”
“This destabilizes demand, lowers the price for the beekeeper and endangers the bee population. But, in addition, this commercial strategy encourages deception among consumers, who believe that they are buying honey with all the letters of the name, when in reality “A lot of that product is sugar syrup.”
For his part, AVA-Asaja beekeeper Diego del Valle has highlighted “the helplessness that we perceive from all administrations, especially the European one, which not only do not support the beekeeping sector, but also facilitate treaties with third countries with which , due to its lower costs and demands, we cannot compete. We are on the verge of collapse and the future of bee hives, which are essential for pollination and the environment, is being endangered.
Add Comment