ICE Charges Two Major Domestic Honey Suppliers with Evasion of AD Duties on Honey from China
Five individuals and two domestic honey processing companies were charged with falsifying entry documents on honey imported from China, and transshipping through other countries, to evade antidumping and duties on the merchandise, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement reported. The seven defendants allegedly evaded antidumping duties totaling more than $180 million, it said.
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Honey Holding, d/b/a Honey Solutions, of Baytown, Texas, and Groeb Farms Inc., of Onsted, Mich. — two of the nation's largest honey suppliers — have both entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the government, ICE said. Honey Holding agreed to pay $1 million and Groeb Farms agreed to pay $2 million in fines. Both companies have also agreed to implement corporate compliance programs as part of their respective agreement, it said.
An AD duty order issued in 2001 assessed duties as high as 221 percent on Chinese honey. Current duties are assessed based on weight, and are set at $2.63 per kilogram for the China-wide entity. All honey is also charged an assessment fee of one cent per pound.
In 2008, federal authorities began investigating allegations involving circumventing anti-dumping duties through illegal imports, including transshipment and mislabeling, on the supply side of the honey industry, ICE said. The investigation resulted in charges against 14 individuals, including executives of Alfred L. Wolff GmbH and several affiliated companies of the German food conglomerate, it said. The defendants were charged with allegedly evading approximately $80 million in anti-dumping duties on Chinese-origin honey. Authorities seized and forfeited more than 3,000 drums of honey that illegally entered the U.S., ICE said.
The second phase of the investigation involves allegations of illegal buying, processing and trading of honey that illegally entered the U.S. on the demand side of the industry, ICE said. Some of that honey was adulterated with antibiotics not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in honey, it said. None of the charges allege any instances of illness or other public health consequences attributed to consumption of the honey. The second phase of the investigation is still ongoing, ICE said.
"Trade fraud can have significant implications for the U.S. economy and consumers," said Thomas Winkowski, chief operating officer of CBP. "These products take jobs away from American workers and frequently violate U.S. health and safety standards, potentially endangering the public. CBP is committed to fighting these fraudulent actors alongside our government partners."