I was today years old when I learned we had a Maple Syrup cartel that regulates the price and distribution of Maple Syrup, worldwide.

Source: Amid shortages, Canada is tapping into its strategic reserves. This time, for maple syrup.

The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, a leading trade group, said it is releasing roughly 50 million pounds from its strategic maple syrup reserves, almost half of the stockpile, Bloomberg first reported.

The government-supported organization, which is often called the OPEC of maple syrup, uses its reserves to control syrup prices and supply. As of 2020, Quebec produced 73% of all maple syrup in the world, and its biggest customer by far is the United States, which accounts for around 60% of Canada’s export volume.
The strategic reserve was created to keep maple syrup in stock during bad harvest seasons or when demand spikes. That is the case right now following a hot and short spring that led to a lower yield. Historically, 2021 was an average year for maple production in Quebec, with a harvest estimated at 133 million pounds, but sales rose 21% compared to last year, straining the available supply.

QMSP did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CNN Business. “The pandemic helped in our case because we’re seeing people cook more at home and use more local products,” the group’s spokesperson Helene Normandin said in an interview with Bloomberg. “It’s not just in Quebec the demand is increasing.”
The reserve has made headlines in the past. Between 2011 and 2012, 3,000 tons of maple syrup, valued at nearly $20 million Canadian dollars, were secretly siphoned from the reserve in a notorious theft known as the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.

Raise your hand if you know about Canada’s global dominance in the Maple Syrup game?

I knew we were the worldwide leader in the production of Maple Syrup, but I had no idea we had a fucking global reserve on ice. I also didn’t know that Canada regulates the syrup market like OPEC regulates the crude oil market, but when you own 73% of the world’s Maple Syrup, I guess you can be assholes when you want to.

Not responding to requests for an interview is some gangster shit, too.  Not responding to a news outlet for comment is reserved for criminals and those who don’t sweat the rules or public sentiment because they don’t have to.

“The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers” sounds more like a sugary gang of badasses than a few lumberjacks who head into the woods every weekend with the kids to tap maple trees and I like it.

Let’s jack up the price of that liquid gold to countries like the US and Russia and bring them to their knees over the breakfast table.  If they don’t like it, they’re welcome to take it up with the Maple Syrup Cartel but I don’t suggest it.  They’ll just stop sending that diabetic liquid gold and who knows who ends up in a vat full of boiling hot maple syrup with this guy  having a smoke over your maple sauteed body.

DB