"This year's honey harvest may be the worst in fifty years!" Veteran beekeeper Huang Yuancai, who has followed his father in keeping bees and harvesting honey since childhood and had just finished work in Wufeng, Taichung, sighed heavily that he had never seen such a dire situation in his life.

With the honey harvest sharply reduced, the Taiwan Beekeeping Association estimates that this year's output is only 20 to 40 percent of last year's, and last year, because of cold damage, the harvest was already only 60 percent of the year before, so it has been going from bad to worse. The Wufeng District Farmers' Association estimates that honey prices will rise by at least 30 to 40 percent this year.

It is rumored that honey importers have already been lobbying legislators to lower import tariffs. If imported honey pours in unchecked, it will mean attacks from front and rear and one blow after another for local beekeepers.

Beekeepers worry: importers lobby legislators in an attempt to lower import tariffs

With the honey crop failing, will prices soar? Pan Jianming admits that beekeepers are racking their brains over this. With output so low, "honestly, we don't even know how to sell it."

He has heard that importers are lobbying legislators to try to lower the import tariff on honey, and he is very worried that imported honey from Thailand and Vietnam will seize the opportunity to pour in unchecked, along with the appearance of more blended honey and fake honey. Pan Jianming calls on the public to choose honey carefully and to look for the domestic bee product certification mark of the Taiwan Beekeeping Association, whose quality and purity have undergone strict certification.

The Wufeng Farmers' Association, which helps market honey every year, has already received word from beekeepers that they want to raise prices, "at least by 30 to 40 percent." If the climate continues to be abnormal and the pesticide poisoning problem remains unsolved, the future of domestic honey will likely become increasingly difficult.

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