Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve runs dry due to high demand
Quebec's Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve is expected to be empty by next February due to record-high demand. The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers is struggling to maintain supply stability as bulk buyers increase their inventories.
Why it matters
As Quebec produces the majority of the world's maple syrup, the depletion of the reserve could lead to global price volatility and supply shortages.
A worker checks barrels of pasteurized maple syrup stored at the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve warehouse in Plessisville, Que. The reserve’s three warehouses in Quebec have a combined capacity of 133 million pounds, or 218,000 barrels. Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Canada’s official maple syrup reserve is sitting near empty, the result of a strong surge in demand that has drained supply to levels not seen in more than a decade.
The Quebec industry, worth about $1.2-billion a year to the province’s GDP, produces most of the world’s maple syrup. And its stockpile is maintained by a government-sanctioned cartel called the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, known by its French acronym PPAQ.
“At the end of next February, all the remaining syrup sold under contract will be gone,” said Simon Doré-Ouellet, deputy director-general at PPAQ. “Our warehouses will be at zero.”
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