Peter Dillon wrote:
Please remember - beekeepers from different countries are proud of what
they produce, and if it is of proper quality deserves to be sold
wherever.
Reply:
Of course, it should be so.
Bob Harrison wrote:
The largest stockpile of dark bakery grade honey in the world. Only valuable
if you have got grade A white honey to blend with the Argentine only. Is
this really a wise move?
Reply:
You should go outside USA sometime and get informed of other people in the world working pretty good before you speak that way. It appears that your airs of imperialism and superiority don't let you see beyond your nose.
I'm part of a coop down here in Argentina with almost one hundred members that were working on R&D and production for quite a long time. We are divided in 7 groups, each one in a different city within a region of 200 miles diameter, and also each one with its own extracting plant which fulfills with all the international requirements of hygienic and quality assurance as you can see in the attached file.
Our coop members work under a Protocol of good practices of handling and manufacture that also prohibits the usage of antibiotics, for what, we had to develop a R&D division which works with hygienic behavior among other things.
One German buyer ones told me that if the public in Germany would become aware of honey not been that pure (i.e. contaminated with antibiotics and pesticides used in the control of varroa), the consumption of honey would drop as low as 20% in a very short time.
Taking this into account, which might apply to other countries as well, we decided to work on those types of actions, and we're working now to develop the technology, through the replacement with packages, that will allowed us not to use chemicals to control varroa.
We work also with trazability and weŽre developing a program where you can, through internet and via codes, see with pictures and details where the honey comes from and how was handled when you have purchased a jar at the supermarket or a drum when applies. And of course, we differentiate our production by botanical origin. Regarding this, our major production comes from clovers and alfalfas, then giving quite clear honeys and of great quality.
As to the issue of the agreement that Sioux Honey has signed up here, I had the opportunity to get some information and IŽll make some comments:
Sioux Honey process 30.000MT yearly from which 20.000MT are from its members, and the rest they buy outside. This is done mainly because they need to run all its industrial cappacity for a matter of costs, and to meet with its comercial compromises. So, if one year its members produce in excess of 20.000MT they buy less outside and vice versa.
That agreement is exactly what beekeepers in Argentina were looking for, because we, the same as you, don't like the problem of prices. Making this agreements producers-producers will take middlemans out and much of the problem out.
When you took the anti-dummping actions, they should have been applied to them only, because they kept for them a tax return that should have been given to beekeepers who paid them. What happened is, that they were not affected; the only thing they did was to pay less to producers. Anyway, the impact was minor because much of our honey went to Europe. Now, after peso's devaluation things have changed a lot, since the gov. needs money and instead of returning taxes they have established a retaintion tax on exports of 10%.
So Bob, you are invited to come here any time you want. The stay its on us. We'll share some opinions and perhaps, if we agree that at least in this product there is enogh room in the market for everyone, and for the good of the honey market in the world, we shall begin not thinking as rivals but rather as part of the same side, we will be able to develop better agreements for us, "producers".
Rudi Bertero
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