Ruling will allow small companies like Kingsburg's 559 Honey Company to better compete
May 20—As beekeeper Ben Zentner, clothed in shorts and a bee jacket, tended to one of his 2,700 hives in a Kingsburg plum orchard this week, he talked about a recent legal victory for smaller American honey producers that will allow them to better compete with imports.
"What has been happening is, we have to compete with larger companies that source their honey from foreign countries and then pack them in the U.S. They then have labeled that honey as American honey, and it just isn't," said Zentner, who has been in the honey business for about five years. "The larger companies will sell that product at a lower price than that of true American honey and smaller producers have a hard time competing when the customer sees two price ranges for seemingly the same thing."
The case was brought before the United States International Trade Commission by the American Honey Producers Association, dealing specifically with imports from Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam.
"Raw honey from Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam injures the U.S. industry," said a spokesperson for the trade commission. After investigations spanning several months, the commission determined on May, 11 that the U.S. industry has been materially injured by the imported raw honey from those countries being sold at less than fair market value.
Zentner's 559 Honey Company is a raw honey producer out of Kingsburg that will be among the approximately 60,000 producers nationwide to benefit from the finding.
"I have about 2,700 hives right now. I collect the honey and wax, maintain the bee's health and utilize the bees for pollination," said Zentner, a Navy veteran.
"A common misconception is that bees are better left to the wild, but as a keeper I make sure they are safe, well fed and healthy," Zentner said. "I am required to provide water and food at every bee yard I have and they get treated for mites."
Zentner noted there are only eight species of bees that produce honey, and the honeybee is the most productive. "In each hive I have about 60 pounds of honey," he said.
As he talked about the types of hives and bee care, Zentner also talked about the frustrations felt by American honey producers when dealing with foreign and mislabeled honey products as competition.
The ruling will address those frustrations, he said, because imported honey will have to remain labeled as foreign, and that will allow fair competition for the American honey industry.
The U.S. Department of Commerce will begin to issue anti-dumping duty orders to ensure compliance with the new ruling in the next few months. Additionally, in a finding by the Commission, there will be an affirmative critical circumstances determination against Vietnam. The finding means that as of 90 days prior to Aug. 28, 2020, when the preliminary anti-dumping determination was made, duties will be collected by U.S. Customs on all Vietnamese honey imports.
Zentner said he would wait to see how his business is best able to grow with the path opened by the ruling.
