The flow of Chinese honey to North America could slow in the coming months, but the benefit to Canadian beekeepers may not be that great.
The United States government is considering changes to its trade laws that would make imports of Chinese honey less competitive.
A loophole in the existing laws enabled companies to import Chinese honey to the U.S. without paying tariffs established three or four years ago to prevent the product being dumped. The changes before the U.S. House of Representatives would close that loophole.
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“It’ll be a big help in stopping the flow of that cheap Chinese honey coming in,” said Steve Park, president of the American Honey Producers Association.
Canada may benefit
The changes should ensure that the price of all Chinese honey going into the U.S. is at least 90 US cents a pound instead of the present 50 to 60 cents, Park said.
That could have some benefit for Canadian producers, who traditionally were one of the larger exporters of honey to the U.S.
However, Medhat Nasr, Alberta Agriculture’s provincial apiculturist, noted an increasing number of other countries are competing for a share of the American honey market.
Canada was once among the top five honey exporters in the world. Over the past few years, it has fallen to ninth place. Malaysia, India, Brazil and Vietnam all have edged ahead of Canada as honey exporters.
“So it doesn’t necessarily mean that if the
U.S. needs more honey, they will come only to Canadian honey,” Nasr said.
“In general, honey prices will increase but how much we are going to get out of that pie is a difficult question.”
The American Honey Producers Association said there was $30 million worth of unpaid tariffs on Chinese honey shipped into the U.S. last year.
Park said the loophole in American trade rules allowed new U.S. companies to import Chinese honey after posting only a small bond. But a number of those companies disappeared before tariffs could be collected, he said.
“Instead of playing by the rules, they elected to cheat on it. This is what drove the prices down last January through June.”
