DR>From: Dusty Rhodes <[log in to unmask]>
  >Date:         Mon, 23 Jun 1997 16:03:27 -0500
  >Subject:      Re: honey prices
 
  >I know of a local honey expert  phd. type that can identify the country of
  >origin by the pollen.
 
  >the test runs about $50... Texas A&M University..
 
Sounds like a good business.
 
  >He said that a number of people were trying to make money by selling
  >imported honey as US and it was their job to verify the  honey was produced
  >as claimed...
 
One should understand that any 50$ test, which is way to expensive as
any Jr. high school student could do it with a toy microscope, can in
most cases only identify the family of plants the pollen is from, not
the exact plant. (That would take more gold then 50$ a sample to do
right.) It is also important to know that if the honey was filtered, or
uncapped without cutting deep into the combs as little pollen would be
in it to look at. Filtering as done in the US without the addition of
charcoal, we use DE, can take out any particles down to one micron which
is smaller then most pollen grains. Foreign honey handlers can legally
in their own countries do much more then is allowed in the US. One only
has to sample honey or what is called honey in Japan and many other
countries of this world market to understand their is a difference in
cultural treatment of honey as a food and maybe understand why North
America honey in consumer packages does not sell well in the local far
east market.
 
More honey is drank in the world then is spread on bread. Maybe we
should spend a little more on researching on how other people use honey
to be ready for the new export markets of the next century before our
computers all crash and we have to redo all research.
 
ALSO pollen could bee added with little effort by anyone along the honey
handling chain to give a false ID, and much honey is produced from
plants that have little or no pollen that can get into the honey.
 
Much of the honey imported into the USA comes from co-opt's of one kind
or another, mostly government controlled and it is processed. (*Blended,
Filtered, things removed, things added.) It is nothing like what most
honey producers in the US sell in bulk to honey packers but more
like what the packers sells bulk to end users which is a blended,
filtered, moisture adjusted +- ; honey product, and in some cases other
sugars are added according to the contract with the buyer. (The law says
if sugar (or anything else) is added it must be labeled as such and can
not be called HONEY.)
 
The bulk sale of honey to industrial users in the US is very competitive
and price sensitive with importers, domestic packers, and beekeepers all
competing for the same business. According to private information
from one large US handler, I quote his sales manager, June 9, 1997:
 
"OVERALL MARKET TRENDS (for industrial honey)
 
1. Strong pricing now is quickly moving downward.
2. Industrial pricing is the easiest to change.
3. Faster to react to market."
(end quotes)
 
This packer sold to the bulk industrial market about 15 million pounds
of mostly US domestic produced honey in the last year. In the last few
months they have been out bid on almost 4 millions pounds ranging
between .88-.80 US$., their bid. Size of these bids range from 25,000 to
1,400,000 pounds. The lower price was for one large lot. The average was
between .84-.87. (All domestic produced honey) Remember this was lost
business as others bid lower and made the sale.
 
GM, General Mills, the "beekeepers friend", was offering to buy bulk
honey in the low $0.70. Real nice people to deal with, I guess they
spent so much on helping bee research they now must recover it from
the honey producers. Kind of reminds me of those guy's from the
government who are here to help you, with one hand on your shoulder and
the other one in your pocket. Well if all they are reaching for is your
money I guess its OK, but since most beekeepers I know have had empty
pockets for as long as I can remember I am beginning to wonder...about
them not the beekeepers.  Anyway for what it's worth I forgive any
beekeeper who buy's or supports any GM products for you know not what
you do, and we are doing it to ourselves. POST or Kellog's is better and
it is a lot cheeper then buying leather boxing gloves for all your young
boys which is the main advantage of their products anyway.
 
                        ttul, the OLd Drone
 
 
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62797
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