Argentine Beekeepers' Magazine

ARGENTINE HONEY: THE FINAL BATTLE

(Espacio Apícola, November 16th, 2024) On November 5th, Thomas Martin uploaded the report about the "Verification of Sales and Costs" carried out by him and his partner at the offices of the Association of Argentine Cooperatives (ACA) last September to the Department of Commerce (DOC) website (ACCESS doc 4659051-01); three days later, Zachary Saykin did the same with the report about the verification carried out at NEXCO S.A. (ACCESS doc 4662563-01). These reports, 28 and 32 pages long respectively, did not make or suggest any changes to the preliminary resolution, they only intervened to verify the information previously presented by each company. After that each company presented documents with "minimal corrections".
All the basic documentation was then consolidated for the analysis and Final Determination of the first review carried out by the DOC after the initial investigation and open to the defendants' arguments and possible refutations from the Petitioners, before the DOC confirms or modifies the Preliminary Determination published on June 28th, five months ago! which is an eternity for the beekeeping market in Argentina.
NEXCO S.A., whose honeys were excluded from all tariffs in a preliminary manner, now has the opportunity to strengthen its defense until November 22nd and the Petitioners to request a higher tariff.
For its side, ACA, whose honeys were preliminarily sanctioned with a dutty of 58.34% for the period of the first review and which in August had argued a methodological change by the DOC that would harmed it, they presented on yesterday the same information opportunely presented and verified by DOC officials with the corrections made, in two calculation versions (ACCESS 4665359-01). The first according to the weighted average standard of annualized costs used by the DOC (which would have been the analysis method used in the review by the DOC and questioned by ACA). And the second version uses the quarterly cost methodology also used by the DOC and which is the method used by the DOC for the calculation in the initial investigation. ACA had pointed out this change of method between the initial investigation and the investigation of the review period as the cause of what they consider an error in the dutty calculation by the DOC, as we said in this column on August 30th. The ACA proposal is for the DOC to review the correct calculation method to apply based on the Argentine inflationary process that prevailed during the Review Period (a quarterly or annualized analysis) and, based on this, confirm or modify the tariff determined in a preliminary manner.
Next Friday, November 22nd, is the deadline for ACA, NEXCO and the Petitioners to appeal on the preliminary results published in June and on November 29th for the respective refutations (ACCESS doc 4665558-01).
Beyond the modification or not of the tariff exemption for NEXCO honey, the ACA battle will define the definitive tariff for honey from all other Argentine exporting companies and for which all beekeeping activity in Argentina is hopeful and pending in the middle of the productive season in the southern country.

BRAZILIAN HONEY: NO CHANGES IN THE FIRST REVIEW

(Espacio Apícola, November 16th, 2024) No documents have been submitted regarding the First Review and the Second Review is moving forward in its usual channels.
Apparently the tariffs determined in a preliminary manner would be confirmed in January.

INDIAN HONEY: NO CHANGES IN THE FIRST REVIEW

(Espacio Apícola, November 16th, 2024) The progress of the Second Review continues with questions from the Petitioners regarding the documentation presented by the companies, without further developments.
Apparently the tariffs determined in a preliminary manner would be confirmed in January.

VIETNAMESE HONEY: NO NEWS ON THE VERIFICATIONS

(Espacio Apícola, November 16th, 2024) The companies whose documentation would have been verified by the DOC in the visits made last month presented their respective corrections and comments. The DOC is expected to submit reports on these verifications as well as a schedule of final appeals and rebuttals prior to the final determination to be published on January 8th.
The Second Review is also underway.

Previous report HERE

(Espacio Apícola, November 7th, 2024) Several samples of Chinese products, offered as Chinese honey or Vietnamese honey, were taken at the recent SIAL Paris fair by Estonian beekeepers and analysed by Metagenomics DNA Analisis where they proved to be absolutely fake.

Peeter Matson, Sander Sulane and Taavi Tull, professional beekeepers from Estonia recorded an investigation they carried out at the recent SIAL Paris fair, entitled "The truth behind honey in the global market". They travelled to Paris, visited the stands of Chinese companies offering "honey" and on their return took the product samples to the CELVIA laboratory in Estonia, where they were subjected to the most innovative analysis of authenticity developed there by Kairi Raime, the Metagenomic DNA Analysis (MDA) in honey which we have already referred here.

The conversations with the Chinese sellers, recorded by the beekeepers... (Continue 2 minutes lecture HERE and the link to the video)

(Espacio Apícola, October 24th, 2024) As of November 28th, 2024, all honey exports to the European Union must include the identification of the establishment of origin and it must be duly registered in the list in accordance with article 127, section 3 "e", paragraphs ii and iii of Regulation 2017/625 of the EU, as indicated in the last Delegated Regulation signed on September 15th, 2023.

The information can be consulted on the EuLex site or in the specific summary for bee products that we published in Espacio Apícola 143, in Spanish last May.

ADULTERATION IN FOCUS

The main motivation for this measure is to control the quality of honey exported to the EU or substitutes that are sold as "honey" in a clearly fraudulent manner. The actions of the European Commission were reinforced last year through a report by the European Farmers' Organisation (COPA) and the European Agricultural Cooperatives (COGECA); this organisation, COPA-COGECA, published last year on March 23rd a report...(continue 3 minutes lecture HERE).

ARGENTINE HONEY: ARGENTINE HONEY: COUNTDOWN TO NOV. 12

(Espacio Apícola, October 18th, 2024) The second review of the anti-dumping actions against Argentine honey in the United States has finally begun. Based on the complexity of the analysis and the visits for verification carried out by DOC officials over 15 days among the commercial offices of the investigated companies during July, NEXCO and ACA were the last companies to receive the questionnaires for this new investigation period between June 1st, 2023 and May 31st, 2024.
This review will be a new challenge for all the stakeholders as it includes the extreme of two extreme models of administration in Argentina: one of Sergio Massa at the head of the Ministry of Economy of the Kirchnerist government and the beginning of the current Luis Caputo, this time, under the mandate of the libertarian Javier Milei.
According to the publication of the preliminary results in the United States Federal Register on July 8th, the Final Determination and its respective analysis should be published on November 12th, considering the 7-day delay caused by a computer service failure suffered by the DOC.
Although some Argentine stakeholders presume that this deadline will be extended until January 7th, as already announced by the DOC for the Final Determination in the Vietnamese case, there was not any notification to the other three ( Argentina, Brazil or India).

BRAZILIAN HONEY: CASTLING

(Espacio Apícola, October 18th, 2024) Since Apis Nativa was removed from the investigation with the approval of all parties, the DOC chose the third largest honey exporter from Brazil, MINAMEL.
MINAMEL, the first Brazilian company to export honey to the United States at the time of its founder Mr. Agenor Castagna (see the analysis of honey exports from Brazil to the United States in Espacio Apícola 140 - Aug. 2023), requested to be questioned by the DOC after its purchase of Apiarios Diamante, the company that was initially sanctioned for Adverse Facts Available (AFA). At that time, the DOC rejected MINAMEL's request, then the Court of International Trade exonerated Apiarios Diamante, paving the way for the merger that now, having been called for investigation, has the opportunity to clarify the situation of the entire honey export operation from Brazil.

INDIAN HONEY: SECOND REVIEW PROGRESSING

(Espacio Apícola, October 18th, 2024) After the Petitioners' criticisms and the Indian companies' joint responses, there was no news from the DOC and the Final Determination of the first review is awaited. The two Indian companies selected for this new review, Indocan and Shakti, are engaged in answering the questionnaires.

VIETNAMESE HONEY: WITH VERIFICATION VISITS

(Espacio Apícola, October 18, 2024) Following the significant reduction in tariffs promoted by US senators and representatives and finally imposed on Vietnamese honey during the initial investigation, the First Review doubled those values, which occurred within the framework of Vietnam's ratification as a non-market economy, with its significant implications for anti-dumping investigations.
Despite the second review being underway for Vietnamese honey, the DOC has arranged to visit the investigated companies to carry out a verification of the sales declared in the responses to the questionnaires and other needs that arise.
The first company to be visited will be Daklak HoneyBee Joint Stock Company (DakHoney) at its headquarters in the city of Buon Ma Thout, in the province of Dak Lak, Vietnam, from October 22nd to 25th. The other company under investigation, Ban Me Thuot Honeybee Joint Stock Company (BMT), will be audited for similar purposes between October 29th and November 1st. Because of this, the DOC had already anticipated that it could not meet the November 12th deadline for the publication of the Final Determination and is postponing said determination, in the case of Vietnam, until January 7th, 2025. (ACCESS doc. 4647178-01)

Previous week HERE

ARGENTINE HONEY: WAITING FOR THE FINAL DETERMINATION

(Espacio Apícola, October 3rd, 2024) The Department of Commerce was published the "draft" instructions for U.S. customs to implement the deposit of duties by companies that import honey from Argentina of the instructions as of the publication of the Final Determination of the First Administrative Review in the Federal Register. This First Review Final Determination corresponding to the interval 11/23/2021 to 05/31/2023 is expected next month. So far, the DOC has not published any document referring to the Price and Cost Verification that it carried out in the offices of the investigated companies, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. If there are no modifications to the actions taken, the honey from NEXCO S.A. imported into the United States will not pay tariffs, while the companies who import honey from ACA and all others must deposit 58.34% of its value for the honey imported during the reference period.

BRAZILIAN HONEY: ON WHEELS

(Espacio Apícola, October 3rd, 2024) Given the absence of suspended entries from certain companies during the Period of Review, among which is the one initially sanctioned and then exonerated by the Court of International Trade, Apiarios Diamante, the Department of Commerce communicated its intention to rescind this review for those companies. For its part, Apis Nativa, which in the review received a preliminary tariff of 0%, withdrew its request to participate in the second review. Likewise, the Petitioners withdrew their request for investigation of Apis Nativa for the second review in progress.

I

NDIAN HONEY: RESPONSES TO THE PETITIONERS' ACCUSATIONS

(Espacio Apícola, October 4th, 2024) The two companies under investigation, Allied Natural Product and Indocan Honey, responded through their lawyers (International Trade Lawyers) with three consecutive documents to the latest accusations made by the Petitioners (Access doc. 4642272-01 ff.). Basically, both companies appeal to the truth and sufficiency of the information provided by them in the investigation, which is why they argue that they should not be sanctioned in whole or in part with Adverse Facts Available (AFA). Methodological aspects also come into play regarding whether prices and costs should be analyzed on a quarterly basis, as the DOC has done, or whether they should be annualized as proposed by the Petitioners. Let us remember that since the original investigation, the Petitioners have requested that the DOC conduct an on-site Verification of the Indian companies, but so far this alternative has not been considered by the DOC.

VIETNAMESE HONEY: WEEK WITHOUT NEWS

(Espacio Apícola, October 4th, 2024) The development of the Second Review is progressing with formal interventions and the common requests for postponement of dates for the submission of responses to the questionnaires sent by the DOC.

Previous week HERE

(Espacio Apícola - October 3rd, 2024) European professional beekeepers, alarmed by the lack of sales, the presence of a large amount of honey at very low prices in certain supermarket chains and the publication of the European Union last year indicating that 46% of imported honey is adulterated, they carried out their own market research and arrive at the conclusion that in the supermarkets where they bought honey to analyze, 80% of the samples were adulterated honey or directly a fake product, which emulates honey and is sold as such.

They bought 29 jars labeled as "honey" in different supermarkets in different towns in Germany and added a jar of honey purchased from a well-known beekeeper as a control sample. They took the samples to internationally recognised laboratories for testing. All the samples complied with European regulations. However, Bernhard Heuvel, president of the European Professional Beekeepers' Association (EPBA) and vice-president of the German Professional and Commercial Beekeepers' Association (DBIB), he says these adulterated or fake products are so cheap that they cannot be honey, but not only that, "when you taste (fake) honey, its texture, smell and taste are strange..(continue 3 minutes lecture HERE)

(Espacio Apícola - September 24th, 2024 - ACTUALIZADO EL 7 de octubre)"The initiative aims to advance permanent and reciprocal liberalisation of trade with Ukraine, with the aim to work towards Ukraine's integration into the single market". (CALL FOR EVIDENCE FOR AN INITIATIVE - without an impact assessment - Ref. Ares (2024) 6238483 - 03/09/2024).

Traditional Ukrainian honey exports to Russia have been sent to the United States and Europe for some years now. Since January 1st 2016, an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement establishing a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) has been provisionally in force.

In June 2022, four months after Putin's invasion of Ukraine began, when the US investigation... (continue 3 minutes lecture HERE).

ARGENTINE HONEY: INFLATION, THAT BIG STUMBLE

(Espacio Apícola, September 13th, 2024) After we announced last week the visit of officials from the United States Department of Commerce to carry out a "Verification of prices and costs" at the offices of the Association of Argentine Cooperatives, this Monday the DOC announced the visit to NEXCO S.A. for the same purpose next week, from September 16th to 20th, (Access doc. 4627968-01).
Deliberations continued in the offices of A.C.A. as the time of this report. The thing is, what and how to index purchases, expenses, sales and how to make valuations in dollars in the midst of an inflationary process like Argentina's is not easy.
In this regard, as a preview of what will be the week of verifications that the DOC will carry out in NEXCO offices next week, Morris, Manning and Martin bureau, lawyers of the company, presented yesterday an alternative proposal to that of White and Case, lawyers of A.C.A. on August 29 (Access doc. 4623044-01). Both proposals are very interesting to analyze and there is certainly expectation for the result of these visits, since they are the first that the DOC has made to companies questioned in this investigation for dumping that has other actors in equally or more confusing scenarios such as those of India and Vietnam.

BRAZILIAN HONEY: A QUIET WEEK

(Espacio Apícola, September 13th, 2024) Apis Nativa submitted last Friday a document requesting that the comparison of honey sales prices to the United States with a third country be used since their sales in the local market are less than 5% of what is traded with the United States. They did not make public the name of the third country proposed (Access doc. 627243-01).

INDIAN HONEY: A DÉJÀ VU WITH ELIOT NESS

(Espacio Apícola, September 13th, 2024) Indocan was supposed to respond yesterday to the criticism raised last week by the Petitioners regarding the filtering of honey, but requested that the deadline for its rebuttal be extended until Thursday, September 19th. For its part, the DOC has already selected the two Indian companies that will be selected for the second period of review. They will be named Indocan and Shakti for being the ones that sold the most volume in the period to be audited (Access doc. 4629945-01).

VIETNAMESE HONEY: A QUIET WEEK TOO

(Espacio Apícola, September 13th, 2024) No significant news in this investigation this week, as of the time of this report.

Previous week HERE

ARGENTINE HONEY: ANALYSTS' USDOC GO TO INSPECT IN PERSON

(Espacio Apícola, September 5th, 2024) Two officials from the United States Department of Commerce, international trade compliance analysts, will travel to Buenos Aires to "verify sales and costs" of Argentine Cooperative Association (ACA) next Monday September 9th until Friday September 13th. It is emphasized that the information to be collected is only for the purposes of verification and the greatest collaboration is expressly requested to avoid the risk of a sanction for Adverse Facts Available (AFA) that would aggravate the situation of the company (ACCESS doc. 4624720-01).

In addition, due to global internet service interruptions caused by failures in the update of a security software on July 19th, the deadlines for the start, preliminary or final determinations are postponed for seven days because there is not enough time to process all the documentation that was submitted all at once and late due to the interruption (ACCESS 4624874-01).

In another order, the DOC again nominated ACA and Nexco for the next administrative review covering raw honey exports from June 1st, 2023 to May 31st, 2024. Although several Argentine companies registered for this stage, only the Petitioners suggested that ACA and Nexco be nominated and then the DOC, after analyzing the exported volumes and other aspects, confirmed this choice (ACCESS 4624681-01).

BRAZILIAN HONEY: ENDLESS SADNESS

(Espacio Apícola, September 5th, 2024)
I feel a silence in my soul,
that makes me sob...
I have a void in my soul,
that I cannot fill... This is how Miltinho's song "endless sadness" begins. Following the DOC decisions in favor of Brazilian companies that we published last week, Brazil 2 vs. Petitioners 0, the petitioners withdrew their request for a hearing with the Department of Commerce. Enjoy Miltinho's song on YouTube Endless Sadness.

INDIAN HONEY: A DÉJÀ VU WITH ELIOT NESS

(Espacio Apícola, September 5th, 2024) While more than 5,000 metric tons of extra-light amber honey from India were imported into the United States between May, June and July of this year, at average prices below $2,100 per ton, the lowest import price for this category, the lawyers and financial analysts of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) and the Sioux Honey Association (SHA), the Petitioners, are seeing if they can catch the company onto the honey filtering that the Indocan firm would have declared in some shipments according to the 161-page response to the supplementary economic questionnaire that the Indian company submitted last month. If after so many accusations of murders and crimes Eliot Ness was able to put Al Capone in jail for tax evasion... who knows?

In response to the Petitioners' complaint last week, Indocan immediately responded by saying that it is false that a 25-micron filter removes all the pollen from honey... (ACCESS doc. 4609616-01).

Next week, the case reports can be submitted until September 12th and the respective rebuttals are due next Tuesday, September 17th (although it is most likely that some will ask for more time) (ACCESS doc. 4626120-01).

VIETNAMESE HONEY: THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT REVIEW

(Espacio Apícola, September 5th, 2024) The Daklak Honeybee Joint Stock Company asked the United States Department of Commerce that, if it is not chosen for the next review period, they want to be audited as a voluntary respondent (ACCESS 4624800-01).

Previous week HERE

ARGENTINE HONEY: A.C.A. FINALLY FILED ITS LONG-AWAITED CLAIM

(Espacio Apícola, August 30, 2024) The Argentine Cooperative Association (ACA) finally filed yesterday its claim for what they considered an error in the calculation of antidumping duties during the period of the First Administrative Review.

ACA says: "the programming language employed in this first administrative review differs significantly from that used to calculate CV Profit in the underlying investigation. The impact of this change in programming was massive for ACA; it increased ACA's CV Profit on third country sales by a factor of more than 10 (that is, by more than 1000%) and caused the Department to assign ACA a preliminary dumping margin which was similarly overstated."

This would be due to the fact that the effects of inflation and devaluation of the Argentine peso would not have been considered according to the dates of each sale made. They also claim that the DOC did not provide timely notice of the change in method.

The Petitioners are now expected to comment, as well as an explanation from the DOC regarding the alleged methodological change, as well as a response to the calculation proposals suggested by ACA. It should be recalled that the tariffs set for ACA rose to more than 58% in the Preliminary Determination of this First Administrative Review and that, having reduced the tariff to zero for the other company under investigation (Nexco), then that tariff of 58% would remain for all other Argentine honey exporters to the United States (Access doc. 4623044-01).

BRAZILIAN HONEY: BRAZIL 2 Vs. PETITIONERS 0

(Espacio Apícola, August 30, 2024)As the rebuttal that MELBRAS opportunely filed regarding the suggestions to apply sanctions for Adverse Facts Available (AFA), the other company, APIS NATIVA, did the same.

On the other hand, in response to the claims filed by the petitioners, the Department of Commerce ratified the changes made by the Court of International Trade on June 5, by which the duties of AFA against Supermel were repealed and reduced to 10.52% for said company and those of the rest of the companies were set at 9.38%. If this is ratified in the Final Determination expected in November, the DOC will appropriately instruct the customs and border control offices (Access doc. 4620941-01).

The DOC immediately selected both companies of the ongoing investigation (MELBRAS and APIS NATIVA) for the next period of review and has already sent them the corresponding questionnaires, thus the Brazilian companies are the most advanced in this new stage (ACCESS doc. 4619980-01). Given the circumstances, the Petitioners resigned their request for a hearing to the DOC.

INDIAN HONEY: SUSPICION OF ADULTERATION?

(Espacio Apícola, August 30, 2024)The Petitioners' rebuttal to the extensive response that INDOCAN submitted to the supplementary questionnaire on August 6 has finally arrived. They request that certain information that INDOCAN presented as confidential be made public and point out that INDOCAN claims to have filtered some honey below 25 microns and that this would remove all pollen and traceability from the honey (or even a guarantee of authenticity, ACCESS doc. 4620433-01 dated August 26, 2024). News in development.

VIETNAMESE HONEY: CERTIFICATES FOR EACH COMPANIES TO OPERATE

(Espacio Apícola, August 30, 2024) Over the past two weeks, several Vietnamese companies have submitted their respective "Separate Rates Certification", that certifies the national origin of individuals or companies in order to be able to operate commercially with the United States for members of a country considered Non-Market Economy, a condition that the DOC recently ratified for Vietnam. Other companies submitted their application for this certificate.

Finally, the DOC also responded to all the Senators and Representatives that they had sent letters referring specifically to Vietnam's status as a Non-Market Economy (ACCESS 4620652-01, August 26, 2024).

Previous week HERE

ARGENTINE HONEY: A QUIET WEEK

(Espacio Apícola, August 17, 2024) The Department of Commerce (DOC) published a Rescission of the administrative review of part of the antidumping duty order on raw honey from Argentina, an administrative communication involving five companies that ( we understand) would not have exported raw honey to the United States during the administrative review period.

Otherwise, no documents have been published regarding the preliminary determination or about the new review period.

BRAZILIAN HONEY: AN EXPECTED REACTION

(Espacio Apícola, August 17, 2024) MELBRAS responded yesterday at noon to the rebuttal that the Petitioners had presented the previous week. Petitioners have requested that the Department of Commerce (DOC) should apply Adverse Fact Availables (AFA ) against the Brazilian companies for considering insufficient or incomplete responses to the investigation questionnaires.

MELBRAS claims that the DOC should not apply the AFA sanctions since it would not be in accordance with the law, they accuse the Petitioners of not correctly assessing the responses of MELBRAS and its suppliers, that they complain a lot about what they consider to be very rudimentary data from beekeepers and middlemen and that they already requested that sanctions against MELBRAS during the original investigation and before the Court of International Trade and that in both instances this request was rejected, so MELBRAS claims that the DOC should dismiss these claims and determine in the same way as the previous actions (ACCESS doc. 4616296-01).

INDIAN HONEY: ON WAIT

(Espacio Apícola, August 17, 2024) After the INDOCAN extensive answer document to the last questionnaire presented on August 6, the Petitioners ask on Thursday 16 more time to present their rebuttal. The DOC granted yesterday the deadline requested by the petitioners up to August 23rd.

VIETNAMESE HONEY: STAFF RENEWED

(Espacio Apícola, August 17, 2024) After the harsh responses that Vietnamese companies received last week, as we have described in a timely manner, the companies Ban Me Thuot and Dak Nguyen Hong reinforced their staff of lawyers involved in their defense with Jonathan Freed.

Previous week HERE

SITUATION OF HONEY FROM ARGENTINA

(Espacio Apícola - August 9th, 2024) Yesterday afternoon, the petitioners submitted a comment on the documentary basis provided by the US Customs and Border Protection (CCP) for the next Period of Review (POR) in which the DOC intends to analyze individual cases based on the requests received from different exporting companies to which we have already referred. In their letter, the petitioners point out that the DOC should, as it usually does, group the information that belongs to each company since in the documents there would appear different acronyms or spelling errors names that could lead one to believe that they are different companies when in fact they belong to only one. Then, and based on the difficulties of the DOC to analyze all the companies, the petitioners suggest that one in particular be investigated.

(Espacio Apícola - August 8th, 2024) The petitioners, the American Honey Producers Association and the Sioux Honey Association (AHPA and SHA), sent a brief letter to formally requested a hearing to the Department of Commerce (DOC) on Tuesday, August 6, to address their rebuttal on the preliminary results of the First Administrative Review of antidumping sanctions against honey imported from Argentina and which included the analysis of imports during the period of review (POR) from November 23, 2021 to May 31, 2023 (ACCESS doc. 4609955-01).

For their side, the Argentine companies under investigation, NEXCO and ACA, also requested a hearing to their respective address analysis of the preliminary result of the aforementioned review. In particular, ACA, in a memorandum indexed in the official site of International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce's (ACCESS) under number 4588833-01, noted that the DOC had made errors in the final calculation of the tariff imposed on that company.

SITUATION OF HONEY FROM BRAZIL

(Espacio Apícola, August 9th, 2024) In the context of the recent Preliminary Determination rebuttal by the Petitioners and their request to apply sanctions of Adverse Facts Availables (AFA) against both Brazilian companies investigated during the POR and in view of the imminent expiration of the deadlines to present a rebuttal, next Monday, August 12th, this morning MELBRAS ask the DOC to extend the deadline to make its argument (ACCESS doc. 4611685-01); to which the DOC agreed just after noon today, leaving the deadline next Friday, August 16th for all stakeholders (ACCESS doc 4612016-01).

(Espacio Apícola, August 8th, 2024) The US Petitioners (AHPA and SHA) formally requested a hearing from the DOC on Monday, August 5th, to defend the arguments of their rebuttal in light of the Preliminary Determination made regarding the review of the Brazilian honey case.

They presented also, onTuesday, August 6th, an extensive rebuttal to said review arguing that the cost of production of beekeepers and middlemen, from both Apis Nativa and Melbras, are not reliable. That their incomplete presentations should be sanctioned as adverse facts (AFA) in full or, failing that, the DOC should continue using its normal weighted average annual cost methodology with respect to the company Apis Nativa.

SITUATION OF HONEY FROM INDIA

(Espacio Apícola, August 9th, 2024) The petitioners have not submitted yet any comments on INDOCAN's recent response to the latest questionnaire sent by the DOC, but yesterday afternoon they ask a hearing to DOC to reinforce their arguments presented on July 30 when they renewed their request for an on-site investigation of the Indian companies (ACCESS doc. 4605901-01).

(Espacio Apícola, August 10th, 2024) Just after noon yesterday, the Petitioners suggested specifically two Indian companies to be investigated for the new ongoing Period of Review (POR) (ACCESS doc 4612037-01).

(Espacio Apícola, August 8th, 2024) After the publication of the Preliminary Determination, the DOC sent a supplementary questionnaire to INDOCAN due to the deficient information that they had provided and that was requested by the petitioners (AHPA and SHA).

After postponing the due date of the expected responses, today INDOCAN presented the response to the expanded questionnaire. Comments from the petitioners or the DOC are awaited, if applicable.

SITUATION OF HONEW FROM VIETMAN

(Espacio Apícola, August 8th, 2024) Vietnamese companies received a hard blow to the process of determining anti-dumping actions yesterday, not only in the beekeeping sector but in all productions from that country that are exported to the United States.

Following the political mediations that in 2022 pulverized the tariffs opportunely determined by the DOC, the Period of Review (POR) began with a request, received by the DOC, for a Change Circumstances Review (CCR) in order to review Vietnam's situation in front of the United States as a "Non-Market Economy" (NME) for which the DOC should have applied a special AD analysis method for the honey imported from Vietnam. Based on this, the DOC agreed to a review under special circumstances. Yesterday the validity of the Non-Market Economy determination for Vietnam in 2002 was published in the official journal of the United States (Federal Register), according to which the DOC must address anti-dumping investigations according to special parameters for that condition.

Given this situation, the Petitioners requested a hearing with the DOC, most likely to review the tariffs set during the initial investigation and those recently published for the review that has just concluded.

For its part, the DOC has already published instructions to the country's customs to explain the modus operandi with each Vietnamese company and how to apply the established duties.

(Espacio Apícola - August 1st, 2024) At the request of several companies from countries sanctioned for dumping in 2022 on honey exported to the United States, the petitioners and some local companies and after the First Administrative Review that concluded on June 28th with the preliminary determination that we duly published (go to the note here), the United States Department of Commerce (DOC)  has initiated a new period of review for all particular cases.

This beginning of the new Administrative Review was published for several antidumping and countervailing duty sanctions on July 29th, including sanctions for dumping honey from Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam.

Based on this, the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) was asked for... (continue reading about 2 minutes

(Espacio Apícola - July 29, 2024)The United States Department of Agriculture published the honey market report for June 2024 in that country last Friday, July 26.

The price paid for honey from Argentina has increased slightly in the second quarter of the year. After a catastrophic February where white honeys reached an average of just over 2,320 dollars per metric ton, in what we believe was the end of a negative slope that prevailed throughout 2023 (see Espacio Apícola 142) and after a month of March with a very significant increase in price, particularly for white honeys, between April and June all categories of honey imported from Argentina into the United States were adjusted... (continue reading about 4 minutes

(Espacio Apícola - July 15, 2024)The International Trade Court of the United States issued a Modified Remand Order last June that forced the Department of Commerce to review and modify the anti-dumping sanctions originally imposed on Brazilian honeys imported into the United States.

The final determination of the investigation against dumping of honey imported into the United States from Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam was released in April 2022. Of the two Brazilian companies investigated, MELBRAS completed the investigation and received a tariff of 7.89%. The Department of Commerce sanctioned the other company, Supermel/Apiarios Diamante, in Adverse Facts Availables (AFA) for which it received the highest tariff, increased with a punitive rate, reaching 83.72% tax on the FOB value of the honey. For the rest of the companies ... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola - July 13, 2024) Tropilaelaps spp. is a mite native of Southeast Asia. The original host of Tropilaelaps mercedesae was the Asian giant honey bee, which makes open air honeycombs, Apis dorsata and from this it would have passed to Apis cerana, which makes honeycombs in cavities, in Thailand, Pakistan, and Myanmar, A. florea and A. indica in India, A. laboriosa in Vietnam, and A. dorsata in Palawan, the Philippines, as described by Panuwan Chantawannaku and others in a paper published in 2018.

When Apis mellifera shares the same areas where those species that are natural hosts live, it becomes infected and, the same article cited indicates that Tropilaelaps spp. is more harmful than Varroa destructor in some Southeast Asian countries. However, this is not the case in South Korea where Woo and Lee reported it in 1993, nor in ... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola - July 5, 2024) The Beekeeping and Agricultural Cooperative of Villa de Soto, in western Córdoba (Argentina), completed its first export of bottled honey to the United States. In front of Villa de Soto city extends the "Traslasierra" Valley, the last refuge of the Native Forest conserved in Córdoba Province that extends in an arc, located mainly to the west of the "Sierras Grandes" (great hills), which begins to the south on the border with San Luis province and lies in the north towards meeting the "Ansenuza" Sea, a high salinity lagoon, the largest salt lake in South America, which is located in the northeast of Córdoba province, Argentina.

This Native Forest composed of the characteristic vegetation of the Western "Chaco" region has several honey sources. Among them, the different species of Prosopis stand out, popularly known as carob trees ("algarrobos" are the same genus than "mesquite"), provide abundant nectar with which honey bees make white honey at the beginning of spring and another amber-colored honey that comes from "mistol" in the middle of the spring season, already with higher temperatures. The "jarilla", the "atamisqui", the "piquillín" are other of the characteristic blooms of the region.

Mistol honey is very dense and viscous, with an intense ... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola - July 3, 2024) The first administrative review of antidumping sanctions applied in 2022 against honey imported from Argentina, Brazil, India and Vietnam where carried out by the US Department of Commerce (DOC).

The review period included commercial operations carried out between November 23, 2021, when the initial preliminary determination was issued, until May 31, 2023.

There were significant changes to the import tariffs on honey from the four countries investigated with a clear advantage ... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola, April 1st, 2024) The price of Argentine honey in the US continues to fall. The recent report of the USDA rectifies the missing information of the previous and reveals significant data on the price paid for Argentine honey, that of other supplier countries and that of the American beekeepers themselves also.

Clearly the "organic" honey from Brazil and Uruguay apparently certified by the same German company raises suspicions. They could not sell it in Europe due to quality problems. Some Brazilian exporters admit that they process honey with dehumidification systems which is why it is considered adulterated or because it has levels of glyphosate that are not compatible with the European market. Neither of the two causes would be a problem to sell the honey in the United States, which stopped publishing honey adulterated events in the import alerts more than two years ago (Import Alert 36-1). On the other hand, buying that "organic" seal also coming from... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola, March 30th, 2024)According to the regulations of the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), on March 1st, this should have been issued the Preliminary Results of the First Administrative Review of the antidumping tariff order carried out between November 2021 and May 2023. According to the same regulations and given the impossibility of complying with that deadline, the DOC resorted to the maximum period allowed, postponing the publication of the Preliminary Results until next June 28. (according to the memorandum published by the DOC with Barcode: 4507919-01, dated February 13th, 2024).

What happened during these 9 months of review? (HERE our report of December 22nd, 2023) In March 2024 were modified the scenarios mainly about the companies of the countries... (continue reading about 5 minutes

(Espacio Apícola Reuters - Swissinfo.ch, March 4th, 2024) We transcribe the news from the Paris branch of the Reuters Agency published by the Swissinfo site, of the Hevetic Confederation, under the title "France offers aid to its struggling beekeepers amid farmer protests" on February 23rd.

"PARIS (Reuters) - France has set aside 5 million euros ($5.41 million) to help its beekeepers, the agriculture ministry said on Friday, a group of producers that has joined protests this month by farmers... (continue reading about 1 minute

(Espacio Apícola, February 29, 2024) Honey imports into the United States showed a sharp decline between January 2023 and January 2024, the data comes from the respective reports published monthly by the United States Department of Agriculture.

In addition, the downward trend in prices for Argentine honey that prevailed throughout 2023 continued. In the year-on-year analysis, extra light amber honey, below 50 mm Pfund on the traditional scale, fell more than... (continue reading about 1 minute

(ESPACIO APICOLA, January 24th, 2024) The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) published on January 19th the Assessment of genetically modified maize MON 810 for renewal authorisation under Regulation, according to the specific regulation of the Community.

Genetically modified (GMO) corn MON 810 contains the Cry1Ab gene, from Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin that affects the... (continue reading about 2 minutes

(ESPACIO APICOLA, January 20th, 2024) Averaging the honey harvest in Argentina, production shows great contrasts between areas in which nothing was produced and others with high yields. The late rains and cold slowed down the beginning of the season in much of the most important beekeeping region of the country. The nectar flow season is expected to extend a little longer than usual.

The NVDI Vegetation Index Map (photo) published by the National Meteorological Service for the first half of January clearly shows the response... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(ESPACIO APICOLA, December 27th, 2023) The European Food Safety Agency EFSA promotes the production of a computational model of a beehive for the pesticides risk assessment. Today, in its third version, ApisRAM has already described the environmental scenarios with which it will interact in order to carry out, in the near future, the pesticide risk assessment in all corners of the European Union.

It is expected that this tool will already be operational and will be useful by 2025, when the Apimondia Congress is also planned in Copenhagen. Among other objectives, this model is focused... (continue reading about 4 minutes

(ESPACIO APICOLA, December 22nd, 2023) The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) began this administrative review last August 29. The DOC is checking the performance of the honey exports of sanctioned countries to the United States during a period of 18 months between the application of the preliminary sanction from November 23rd of 2021 to May 30th of 2023.

REVIEW OF ARGENTINE CASES

In the case of honey from Argentina, beyond the initial measures regarding NEXCO's lawsuit before the United States Court of International Trade and the changes in the chosen market of reference to compare the Honey export prices of ACA, which we describe and analyze in our last magazine (Espacio Apícola nº 141), the investigation continues its course in what at times seems like something already seen and experienced, a true déjà-vu.

As the DOC could not get a Cost of Production (COP) for the investigated companies in the other three countries the DOC arrives at a final determination based on... (continue reading about 6 minutes

(Espacio Apícola, November 18th, 2023) So far in the beekeeping season in Argentina, lemon honey was a failure in Tucumán, a province in the north of Argentina, as well as in the southeast of Corrientes, a province in front of Brazil in the east, where excess of rainfall ruined the honey harvest. For its part, the Monte Nativo Cordobés (Cordoban native forest) was very weak compared to previous years.

The lack of rain and temperature fluctuations have delayed the season in the rest of the country between 15 and 30 days, with the low minimum temperatures being very inportant in the Pampa Húmeda, Río Negro, Mendoza, where the minimum temperatures were below and in some cases well below the historical average that has been established between 1991 and 2020 as a reference period to determine anomalies according to the National Meteorological Service in Argentina (SMN).

As far as soil moisture is concerned, the drought of previous years... (continue reading about 3 minutes

(Espacio Apícola, October 17th, 2021) In their desire to distinguish their products and marketing conditions, producers and beekeeping cooperatives from Traslasierra, Ischilin, Cruz del Eje, among other towns, departments and areas of the northwest arc of the Córdoba province, Argentina, were finally able to submit a request to the Ministry of Agriculture for the recognition of Geographical Indication (GI) of Honey from Cordoban Natural Forest.

The northwest arc of the Córdoba province, Argentina (map of the province indicating five departments of the western Córdoba corresponding to the publication of its Apibotanical Map in our magazine Espacio Apícola nº 80 - Dec. 2007), is an area of more than 4 million hectares in which predominate... (continue reading about 2 minutes

(Espacio Apícola, October 14th, 2021) A new review that includes the analysis of data from more than 2,500 sites reveals that global warming, resulting from greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation and land use change in favor of agriculture is causing the reduction of pollinators and consequently puts regional production at risk, representing a risk to human well-being.

Under the title: "Key tropical crops at risk from... (continue reading about 2 minutes