I am not suggesting we are, just trying to find out if we do.
However, I find some of the replies very interesting.
Wouldn't suggesting that they could raise all the bees they need down south, and suggesting they would not need to import bees, be on par or exactly what happened to the U.S. just in the past 5 years? You would think that with our southern producers there would be no need for importation of bees to the U.S. But we imported thousands of packages.
Is China impervious to the same problems seen around the world with huge bee losses? They use fluvalinate like it is going out of style. So mites are a huge problem.
And China also uses other chemicals that would not surprise me if it contributed to the demise of many beehives. They still use DDT, and other chemicals, which should surprise nobody.
I also remember seeing footage somewhere that had some regions of China hand pollinating crops for the lack of bees. Of course I always wondered how they were exporting millions of pounds of honey if they didn't even have enough bees to pollinate crops. But don't we also produce a good bit of honey here in the states while claiming to not have enough bees over the years of late to pollinate? Truth is, most of our imported honey does not come from China. It comes from Canada, and South America. But China is the whipping poster child when it comes to appeasing those anti-Import types. Not sticking up for China, just pointing out that media and press hype make this a bigger thing than it is sometimes.
It would not surprise me if China needed bees. And I am sure if they did, it would not be for justification of producing honey. I would think that it probably has to do with food production. And when we pay 175 dollars for one single pollinated crop such as Almonds, how much would a package bring for the right market if absolutely needed?
Just remember a few things....it was not until a bunch of beekeepers started chatting that foreign Chinese pollen was confirmed being passed along to beekeepers a few years back. And it was kept a secret for most for a few years that bees out of almond pollination were being used in the package industry. And to this day, there are migratory beekeepers who deny that any illegal chemicals were ever used in the bee industry.
So sometimes it takes a few beekeepers chatting on a forum, or some beekeepers asking the right questions, for the real story to come out.
It would not suprise me at all if this situation turned out to be true. And it would not surprise me if China was in desperate need of packages.