Beekeepers warn that low-priced imports continue to block the sale of Spanish honey
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Thousands of tons of Spanish honey are blocked in the warehouses of cooperatives, as beekeepers have once again denounced. This situation is caused "by the big packers, who prefer to buy honey at a low price at around 2 euros per kilo abroad, mainly in China. The Spanish product, whose production costs do not fall below 2.50 euros per kilogram, is thus blocked ", alert the UPA farmers in a statement. Therefore, UPA has asked the large distribution to reflect and change their attitude, betting for the honey of Spain origin for their own brands. Beekeepers have expressed concern that the campaign this year has already begun and this could increase the "stocks" and further sink the price.
Beekeepers have been arguing for years that this cheap honey causes the Spanish product is being unseated by another low quality with the consequent collapse of prices within the European Union. To solve the problem, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) It passes a law that delves into information about the origin of honey. However, farmers do not agree with this process and from Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias of Spain have declared that it is insufficient since "it does not require to indicate the percentage" of the product that comes from each country. With the current proposal, a honey "may use the denomination 'Origin: China, Spain' even if it contains less than 1% of Spanish product, which is a serious prejudice to the image of national honey ', as they put it example a few weeks ago from the organization in a statement.
The draft of the Royal Decree proposed by Agriculture modifies a section of an article to include that "the country or countries of origin in which the honey has been collected must be mentioned on the label, in descending order of weight of each of the fractions that compose it". It also includes a single transitory provision that can continue to be marketed until stocks are exhausted honey labeled before the entry into force of the new legislation on honey quality.
Of a report of the European Parliament it is extracted that 20% of these products arriving from outside the EU borders do not meet the required levels and that is the third most adulterated food in the world. In this study, it is recalled that "honey is a natural product to which no substance can be added or subtracted, and which can not be dried outside the hive."
Finally, the European Parliament has denounced «Fraudulent practices» in the manufacture of industrial products such as cookies, sweets or breakfast cereals in which it is indicated that they contain honey when in many cases "less than 50% of the sugar contained in the product comes from honey".
