Producers Fear Consumers Will Sour On Maple Syrup

Photo: Some industry observers are concerned that maple syrup could become a luxury item.Photograph by: Dave Sidaway, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Price of sweet treat skyrockets. Reserves have vanished; industry hopes 2009 will make up for 2 bad harvests.

Maple syrup is to Quebec what oil is to Saudi Arabia. The province provides three-quarters of world's supply, and even maintains its own "strategic reserves" of the celebrated sweet.

But those reserves have dried up in recent weeks, and maple syrup prices have increased accordingly. The price of a standard 540-millilitre can has hit $10 in Greater Montreal, compared with $6.50 for most of this decade.

At prices like that, industry observers say, there's a risk maple syrup will be seen as a luxury product, with consumers increasingly opting for cheaper imitation "table syrup."

Read more ....