Need for urgent measures to safeguard the Italian honey sector

Subject: Need for urgent measures to safeguard the Italian honey sector

Beekeeping is a crucial activity for biodiversity, due to the fundamental bees play in pollinating various agricultural crops.

However, Italian beekeeping is mired in a deep structural crisis: honey production plummeted by 80% in 2023 compared to 2022, chiefly as a result of cold weather, drought and increased production costs.

Moreover, Italian honey suffers from twofold competition from honey produced and marketed at considerably lower prices both within and outside Europe. In addition to the presence on the EU market of low-cost, low-quality honey, mainly from China and Turkey, there is a wide disparity in production costs within the Union itself: while Italian honey costs EUR 9-10 per kilo, Eastern European countries are producing the same quantity for only EUR 3-4 per kilo.

Safeguarding Italian honey production means both protecting food safety from imports falling below European standards and contributing to the diversity and sustainability of agriculture in the EU. It is also important to ensure a fair income for Italy's 19 000 beekeepers, who are currently forced to produce below cost.

Given the above:

1. How does the Commission intend to increase the transparency of honey on the EU market in view of the various problems reported and, in particular, the wide disparity in production costs within the Union?

2. How does it intend to support Italian beekeepers, thus ensuring the survival of Italian honey production?

Submitted: 15.11.2023

Answer given by Mr Wojciechowski on behalf of the European Commission (20 December 2023)

Transparency is being provided at EU level from several perspectives, including market data and information on the origin of honey.

Detailed market data are available on the Europa website (1). Regarding the origin of honey, the Commission proposed to increase information to consumers (2) by amending the Honey Directive (3) introducing compulsory country of origin labelling for honey blends. This proposal is currently being examined by the European Parliament and the Council within the ordinary legislative procedure.

All honey placed on the EU market, including that from import, must comply with the definition and quality criteria set out in the Honey Directive. In 2022, the Commission reinforced EU import requirements by placing an authenticity requirement for exporting countries in honey import certificates (4).

A recently adopted amendment to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2292 (5) will also in future make the import of honey possible only from establishments listed in accordance with the Official Controls Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (6).

Under the Italian Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027 (7), over EUR 83 million (public expenditure) have been earmarked to support beekeepers through targeted interventions for apiculture.

1 ∙ ⸱ https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/farming/animal-products/honey_en

2 ∙ ⸱ Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council amending Council Directives 2001/110/EC relating to honey, 2001/112/EC relating to fruit

juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption, 2001/113/EC relating to fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée intended for human consumption, and 2001/114/EC relating to certain partly or wholly dehydrated preserved milk for human consumption: https://eur- lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A52023PC0201 3 ∙ ⸱ Council Directive 2001/110/EC of 20 December 2001 relating to honey: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02001L0110- 20140623 4 ∙ ⸱

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/36 of 11 January 2022 amending Annex III to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2235 as regards model certificates for the entry into the Union of consignments of certain live aquatic animals and products of animal origin https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R0036&qid=1700761025754 5 ∙ ⸱ Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2652 of 15 September 2023 amending and correcting Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2292 with regard to requirements for the entry into the Union of honey, meat, highly refined products, gelatine capsules, fishery products and requirements for private attestation and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/630 as regards private attestation requirements for composite products exempted from official controls at border control posts: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202302652 6 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/625/oj 7 ∙ ⸱

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/cap-my-country/cap-strategic-plans/italy_en














| | )Moreover, additional support is also provided under rural development, where over EUR 40 million (public expenditure) have been allocated in favour of beekeepers in areas of particular environmental and naturalistic importance.