Never noted as one of the world's big honey producers, Nepal exported 1,128 thousand tonnes of honey into India in 2000/01. Fears were triggered that India was being used as a dumping ground for sub-standard Chinese honey with which was being rejected in the West because of antibiotic residues. Nepal imports then subsided slightly only to be mirrored by rises from China and the USA — often sold at surprisingly cheap prices. Adulteration by corn syrup was also suspected. Indian importers were then trying to export the dumped honey but were rejected in the international market for poor standards.
The Economic Times of India reports that Indian agro-industry watchers have now petitioned their government to tighten rules for food quality standards to make antibiotic and pesticide testing in honey mandatory both domestically and internationally.