Processors have warned of a shortage of natural honey after the New Year

Many processing companies cannot purchase honey, the naturalness of which has been confirmed, due to the fact that the tests are too expensive for producers, Valery Mikheev, chairman of the Union of Beekeepers of Russia, told Izvestia.

The Code Battle: how digital labeling can displace illegal trafficking of consumer goods

Labeling does not completely exclude the appearance of counterfeiting, experts say.

"Many processors are calling me now: they can't buy honey with tests this year because the procedure has become more expensive. There is enough honey to put on store shelves until the New Year, but then it is unclear where to get it from," said Valery Mikheev.

According to him, 94% of beekeepers exist in the form of private households — personal subsidiary owners. They sell their surplus goods to the market.

"Conditionally, they sell 800 kg of 1 ton of honey to their regular customers directly immediately after the honey processing. And they give up the surplus. To do this, you need to perform tests. It's not cheap, and not every beekeeper can afford it, which means they can enter the market," he said.

Alexander Kudashev, Chairman of the Union of Industrial Beekeepers, notes that this year a beekeeper needs to spend from 20 to 140 thousand rubles on honey analysis, depending on the region.

Experts believe that the introduction of mandatory labeling "Fair sign" will only lead to new costs for honey producers.

Read more about the situation with the introduction of mandatory labeling of honey in the Izvestia article:

Honey Savior: beekeepers opposed labeling of their products