Canada releases £ 50 million from maple syrup stock

Canadian maple syrup producers are exploiting the country’s emergency reserve of sticky sweets as it appears to be meeting demand amid a global shortage.

Quebec Maple Syrup Producers – a group known as the world maple syrup cartel and sometimes compared to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ grip on oil – announced this week that they are withdrawing around £ 50 million of syrup from its strategic reserve.

This is the most the group has released from the reserve in a single season since 2008 and makes up about half of the entire stock.

Helene Normandin, spokeswoman for the group, which sets bulk syrup prices, limits production and controls inventory, said producers were unable to make enough syrup this year due to a warmer and shorter spring than expected.

Maple syrup producers were unable to meet demand this year.

Quebec maple syrup producers

“That’s why the reserve was made, so as not to miss maple syrup. And we do not want to miss maple syrup! ” she told NPR.

The French-speaking Canadian province produces more than 70 percent of the world’s supply of maple syrup.

Normandin told Bloomberg that the demand for maple syrup increased during the pandemic as people cooked more food at home.

Demand for maple syrup has been rising since the beginning of the pandemic.

Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima

Export sales reportedly rose to £ 113.5 million between January and September – a 21 per cent increase from a year earlier.

At the same time, the consortium of maple syrup producers in Quebec saw production fall by 24 percent due to the uncharacteristically short and hot spring season.

The strange weather hit maple syrup production particularly hard because wood sap can only be harvested in a short window when the temperature alternates between freezing and thawing.

In 2012, thieves stole over 3,000 tons of maple syrup worth millions of dollars.

Quebec maple syrup producers

This is not the first time Quebec Maple Syrup Producers’ strategic reserve has made headlines.

In 2012, thieves got away with more than 3,000 tons of maple syrup worth about $ 19 million Canadian dollars – from the warehouse. The syrup was quietly sucked off from the reserve over the course of months.

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