From the New York Post:
The Biden administration is trying to reign in gas prices by releasing oil from the US strategic reserve — but a different sticky supply situation north of the border has spurred Canadians to tap their emergency stockpile of maple syrup amid a major shortage of the sweet stuff.
The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers is a government-sponsored cartel that controls some 70 percent of the world’s maple syrup supply and is sometimes compared to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ grip on oil.
The consortium of more than 11,000 Canadian maple syrup producers said this week that a warmer- and shorter-than-expected spring led to a 24 percent year-over-drop in production of the pancake topping.
Amid surging demand for syrup as more people cook at home amid the pandemic, the cartel has been forced to tap a whopping 50 million pounds of syrup from its strategic reserve.
That’s the most the group has released from the reserve in a single season since 2008 and amounts to about half of the entire stockpile.
Helene Normandin, spokeswoman for the group, which sets bulk syrup prices, caps production and controls the stockpile, said the group will authorize more production of syrup next season in order to make up for the shortfall this year....
....MUCH MORE
Previously:
Artificial Scarcity: The IMF on the Economics of Maple Syrup
