While President Biden unveiled plans to pull 50 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves to bring down US energy costs, Canada was tapping into their own stockpiles. But.
Around 50 million pounds of maple syrup will be drained from the Quebec Maple Syrup Producers strategic reserve to meet increased demand, but a spokesperson for the organization says Canadians do not need to worry about shortages or price hikes.
Maple syrup producer tapping trees Image: New Brunswick Maple Association
The New Brunswick maple syrup industry has grown dramatically in the last 15 years, even registering export growth during the pandemic.
New Brunswick Maple Association Executive Director Louise Poitras says industry sales have increased from $3-million in 2006 to a current estimate of $33-million. Exports grew by 20 percent in the last year alone.
Poitras said the province currently produces and exports 7.5 million pounds of maple syrup per year with 67 percent of the province’s maple syrup going to the United States.
“In 2015, when the government allocated another 4,400 hectares of Crown land to producers, taking it up to roughly 14,500 hectares in the province, it gave a big push to the industry,” she said, adding that a lot of money also went into installing state-of-the-art equipment.