Are Hungary’s Thousand-Year-Old Honey Farming Traditions Under Threat from "Cheap Chinese Imports"?
- 18 Oct 2023 1:04 PM
- Hungary Matters
European beekeepers were impacted by “several measures of the EU that have a distorting effect on the honey market”, Agriculture Minister István Nagy told an event in Strasbourg,
Nagy and Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi also presented Hungarian honey manufacturing at the event organised in cooperation with the Hungarian Beekeepers’ Association.
Nagy said a trade agreement with the Mercosur countries of South America, whose quota for tax-free exports had been significantly raised in recent years, as well as “cheap Chinese imports” were at the root of the difficulties of EU beekeepers. He insisted that adulterated honey products mostly came from China, but “the EU fails to apply sanctions.”
Hidvéghi called for regulations “to promote the interests of European honey farmers and to protect customers”. He said European customers should be encouraged to buy national products, from small producers, rather than “cheap honey of inferior quality”.
He suggested that the EU should stipulate more stringent labelling of honey products clearly indicating origin. He called on his peers in the European Parliament to cooperate and prevent “external players from ruling the European markets forcing upon us inferior products,” he said.
He spoke about Hungary’s thousand-year-old honey farming traditions, and noted the country’s being in the forefront of European beekeeping. The European Union is the world’s second largest honey producer, he said, adding that “we must do everything to protect that sector.”
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