Low honey prices at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets this year sent shivers down the spines of Australian Beekeepers and now their nightmare has become reality. We saw it with milk now we are seeing it with honey. Coles and Woolworths low price war is destroying farmers lives. The corporate executives don’t care because by ruining local industry they can increase their market share by importing from China. A sad bee fact is that if Bees were paid per hour a jar of honey would cost $162000. Honey is a luxury item and consumers would be happy to pay more in support of bees and beekeepers. Price leaders Capilano Honey have reduced the wholesale honey price to beekeepers from $5.10 to $4.80. Capilano ltd who import and blend honey from China , Mexico and Argentina in a letter to Beekeepers blame the global honey price of $3,60. Most Australian Beekeepers despise imports of honey not only do they put pressure on prices but because imported honey brings the threat of foreign diseases. Australian Industry expert Jeffery Gibbs said “Getting less than $5 a kilo for honeys like yellows box is criminal this is some of the highest quality honey in the world we don’t have Varroa Mite so our honey and beeswax. Our beekeepers should receive a premium.” Is this a case of predatory pricing? Predator pricing is a risky and dubious pricing strategy where a product or service is set at a very low price, intending to drive competitors out of the market, or create barriers to entry for potential new competitors. Theoretically if competitors or potential competitors cannot sustain equal or lower prices without losing money, they go out of business or choose not to enter the business. The so-called predatory merchant then theoretically has fewer competitors or is even a de factomonopoly. Nowadays predatory pricing is considered anti-competitive in many jurisdictions and is illegal under competition laws. However, it can be difficult to prove that prices dropped because of deliberate predatory pricing rather than legitimate price competition. In any case, competitors may be driven out of the market before the case is ever heard.