_____ _ _ _ | ___|__ ___ __| | |__ __ _ ___| | __ on previous posts | |_ / _ \/ _ \/ _` | '_ \ / _` |/ __| |/ / "China Gate" | _| __/ __/ (_| | |_) | (_| | (__| < "Save Our Bees" |_| \___|\___|\__,_|_.__/ \__,_|\___|_|\_\ When the OLd Drone posts his stingers it is always a mixture of personal experience, opinions and facts. Facts are not always easy to get these days as they seem to change from hour to hour. If any of you have watched the news wire services now available on the internet you know what I mean. All this makes it more important to have some background sources of information and more time then not these sources do not want to be quoted. I appreciate those in the beekeeping industry who have tried to help me keep the facts straight via e-mail and phone calls. So now I post a tad of the information from feedback and some new thoughts gleaned from what some would call deep background from within the honey industry and the regulators that serve it. As beekeepers in North America celibate the past year at the many winter beekeeping conventions going on even as you read this other US beekeeper representatives will be in Washington, DC to meet with high officials in the Commerce Department and other departments of government. One hot topic for the beekeepers who have spent more the $300,000. for professional help to level the playing field between China who was dumping honey into the US market at less then the real value. The beekeepers made their case with the trade commissioners and sanctions were imposed on the amount of honey that China could ship to the US. This has since expired and all seems well with those who paid the high cost for what should have been FREE service of their government were satisfied as they had seen a substantial increase in the price of honey along with the decrease in China honey imports, or so they thought... The facts are turning out to bee a lot different then what we all thought we were seeing thanks to a few importer/exporters who worked fast to circumvent the laws of the US and this has been under active investigation for almost a year by the Commerce Department and others. Some of the details of my own investigations: 1..The US Embargo on Chinese Honey was a failure because of several Canadian importer/exporters who may have actually sent more honey from China to the US then the amount embargoed by the US Chinese Honey Embargo. 2..If the price of the Honey increased it was NOT because of the embargo on honey from China and was due to a increased demand in the world for honey, including in some countries that have been considered exporting producers and some short falls in production. 3..The funds that the two US National Beekeeper originations collected from their memberships and spent, big bucks for such a small industry, and they spent more then they collected, was made into a waste because of the smarter Canadian importer/exporters who circumvented the embargo. The industry should investigate seeking relief from those involved in Canada and other places if any convictions result from the on going investigations for the payback of the $300,000. spent by the bee industry. 4..The United States Department of Commerce in its international trade activities has been made to look very impotent because of the activities of a few importers/exporters of honey, and for a year has been actively investigating all Canadian exports to the US and may be preparing to take some sort of action directed towards the individuals involved. 5..The US Beekeeping Industry will have representatives in Washington this week to meet with high level Commerce Department Officials and all continue to recognize the close, historical, and special ties between the US and Canadian beekeepers and are not involved in any Canadian bashing efforts at all. Interested beekeepers on both sides of the boarder should be concerned and discuss these events in their meetings and conventions. 6..There may be some legal action on the US packer/importer/exporter level that could be taken because some US parkers have been damaged by the loss of business to the China Connection Honey from Canada. 7..All the facts are not in and I have yet to find out if Canadian Honey from China has entered the US in consumer size containers..But for sure some of the honey that is sold in Canada to Canadians as Pure Canadian Honey may be in no small part honey from China. On the GM not General Motors "save the bee campaign" I reported not finding any "tie in" promotions between the honey industry and GM. Since then I have found out that within this food giant that uses the good name of HONEY to enhance the value of the products they will be using much less pure Honey in the future. I also found out there is little coordination or tie in's between their own advertising and promotion department and the product purchasing department that buys the honey used by the company. I am told that their honey purchases are dropping from more then 5 million pounds of a few years ago to a threatened 2 million or less pounds in the next year. This may be because the management blames the honey producers for inflating the price of honey, and honey is not considered a "essential" ingredient in their products such as "Honey Nut Cheerios". No wonder the amount of honey in each box of cereal is a propitiatory secret as it may have already been dramatically reduced at a cost to the beekeeping industry in a much larger dollar amount then if we all were able to eat the 400,000 boxes of Honey Nut Cherrios and paid the postage to send in the bees cut from the box and get the $100,000 prize for beekeeping research. This all smells like the frozen HONEY CROSS BUNS sold nationally that contained NO Honey, and when the food conglomerate was asked about this false labeling practice they said the purchaser could add the honey when they consumed the product. There was nothing on the package that indicated that they should do that. Happy Election Day, Vote Early, Vote Often! Enough for now, ttul the OLd Drone (c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk. --- ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ I Love HONEY! I Love HONEY! I Love HONEY! I Love U HONEY!