Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: the-ecohouse.com on February 05, 2012, 05:21:57 am
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Hi Guys
Have any of you done any importing from china?
I''m looking to expand my bee business and i''m looking to china for materials.
They seem to be able to offer super (standard 168cm) for around $3
I know we should all buy Australian, but there a big price difference when you have to buy 1500 of them?
what are you thoughts?
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Go for it Eco
Just hope you can sleep at night.
Yanta
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i'm not sure how to take that mate?
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What is super? and is $3 a good price?
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Is that for deeps Eco?
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Find out what toxins they've dipped the wood into, and find out if it real wood, and if it is legal to import it here. You will need to check with customs because wood products have restrictions. You might have to paint them a lot because I can just see them crumbling in a couple of months. I got a raised bottom board from a supplier in Australia and it rotted in less than 2 years whereas the ones I made myself from cheap pine have lasted. The wood is going to make a difference and I can see china exporting its lowest quality wood. If I were you I'd buy one to test in outdoor conditions first before you get the full 1500...unless there is someone else who has tried them?
Also look at freight costs. I was going to order something from america worth $1.90, but didn't when the postage was going to cost $87.00. You are close enough to bee product suppliers to pick up.
I am not advocating buy australian for the sake of it, because that often entails over-priced products and often bad service thrown in. But I am extra dubious about cheap wood products from China. I can see you need to economise with the quantities you will order, but make sure it won't cause unnecessary repair costs too soon down the track.
What is super? and is $3 a good price?
Supers are just the bee boxes. $3 is cheap, yes.
Let us know what you decide.
Lone
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Ahh I see. I didn't realise he meant supers
With that quantity of product you will have to pay import duties, taxes etc. You will also have to pay for treatment by customs who will most likely spray them with toxic chemicals.
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I agree that most things in Australia are way over priced but when it comes to china you pay for what you get... I certainly wouldn't be buying woodenware from there - that's just my 2c worth
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Ahh I see. I didn't realise he meant supers
They don't talk proper down south like we do.
Lone
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China is not worth the hassles.
you will have two options with the timber once it hits Aussie docks,
1) spray it with chemicals
2) get it treated by irradiation
when I looked into it with freight, handling, treatments and more & more $3 is quickly $10
You would be far better looking at importing Alliance woodgear from NZ.
http://www.beehives.co.nz/ (http://www.beehives.co.nz/)
They are well build, well made they are quality, unlike some other countries.
They really do only like big orders, but for 10 000 frames they do a great deal, (and I will be buying more from them)
hth
cheers
Mark
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Ummm all of the wooden ware i have seen in beekeeping shops is from NZ. What Aussie wooden stuff is available? Is the Aussie stuff coming from a sustainable plantation or is from virgin forest?
I wouldn't buy any natural products from China, purely because they dont have strict regs on herb/pesticides for produce that people use let alone animals.
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Yes there are local Manufacturers of Aussie woodware, I have looked at buying from them, but they are triple the NZ price.
They don't seem to be as well finished (lots of raw grain & splinters)
I would be happy to buy Aussie if the real return was there.
eg selling honey to a honey buyer $2.50 a kg honey retails for ~$9 a kg in the shops
Australian frames retail for $1.60 - beekeeper bulk price $1.35 each
I am not seeing the same return to the Australian beekeeper, nor the discount we are expected to give, we can't get it back in return.
Alliance Frames (NZ) retail $.88 cents RRP before discounts.
just my 2 cents
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wow there are plenty of great suggestions here, keep them coming...great work guys! :)
i'll check out that site...
I love the idea of buying Australia,but unless i can get $15-20 pkg for raw organic honey, its pretty hard to make a profit and its hardly worth the outlay.
$2.50 a kg is criminal! it really is!
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Buying Australian is great. Throwing money away on an inferior product when a cheaper/higher quality alternative exists is just silly.
Dont worry about sleeping at night...you will sleep better knowing you aint going broke throwing your money away.
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$2.50 is the going rate for Qld honey buyers, unless you supply in an IBC Tank.
I would love $15-20 a kg, but obtaining certification to sell organic is; not worth the hassle or money.
My local Farmers Market got raided a few weeks back, (which I think was great) as there are many people there selling honey, competition is fine I have no problem with that, But I have the problem with all beekeepers who put Organic Honey on all their labels, and sell all their honey at a premium price without the supporting documentation. I looked in to obtaining Organic certification & it would be over $30k initially to obtain certification & over $7k per year to keep it current in Qld. (That being said, they nailed anyone who had an Organic sign up, without a current certificate of Organic Compliance displayed)
Unless you are in virgin land 10km's away from the nearest anything is you honey truly Organic & free of any pesticide residues? I am all for true organic, and because on your 30 acres you don't use chemicals at all, what is to say your neighbor is not selective spraying, this won't affect your bees, but it will leave a residue in your honey or nectar.
Mark
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Onya Lillyfrog, you enticed me back into this post.
In NSW claiming that a product is organic when it isn't is called misleading & deceptive conduct (See section 18 of the NSW Food Act 2003). The police call it fraud or obtaining benefit by deception.
If you shop at farmers markets chances are you are getting ripped off fairly frequently going on the type of dodgy practices that I have seen.
I wonder if you would get organic certification with cheap chinese supers. The cost of smoothing things over with the certification body might outweigh the low price.
Yanta
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What about looking into making a plastic style hive?
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I would be very dubious about importing woodware from China due to the issues raised above. If you shop around you can find good quality Australian made hives and frames (using Australian timber) at very reasonable prices.
I also wanted to add my two cents about the so called 'organic' labelling that a lot of beekeepers seem to use to sell their honey. Consumers seem to love the word 'organic' but to me, it is false advertising. I agree totally with Lillyfrog and Yanta. You have no idea where your bees are gathering pollen and nectar from and I think it would be virtually impossible for any honey to be totally organic. If they have access to any agricultural land, chances are it has been fertilised with chemical fertilisers and sprayed with chemical pesticides. Even if they can access a home garden, it's quite likely that the garden has had some form of chemical fertiliser or pesticide used in the past. As far as I'm concerned, there's no difference in the quality between organic and regular honey anyway.
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Plastic in my opinion is rubbish. they put all these fancy grooves and holes in frames and some supers that become a harborage for hive beetle. They are to small for the bees to get into and chase the beetle, so it is a safe haven for the beetles.
cheers
Mark
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well this is generating quite some interest this post :shock:
Great to hear they are enforcing the organic standards.
Most of my hive are in remote wilderness. I use no chemicals.
I have looked into the small producers organic certification, which is pretty cheap compared to full certification.
Unfortunately its the only way to achieve the premium price?
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What about looking into making a plastic style hive?
I have looked at foam from Germany and plastic from Greece...i''d prefer wood from Australia....lets just hope i can find a supplier here
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The supers i buy from Bobs beekeeping apparently come from an Aussie supplier and are made from hoop pine
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I import hive tools and smoker the smoker are good but the bellow and made of custom wood and the screws fall out after a while ,
We do get over charge for beekeeping supplies I know how much I pay for hive tool and what they sell in beekeeping supples and they make 150% on them