Is your syrup selling?

[sawyer40]

I made 65 gal this year and have only sold about 6 gal. People just don't seem to have much extra money to spend. My prices I left the same as last year 6.00pt-12.00qt -24.001/2 gal-45 per gal. I have syrup in the local general store that has been on the shelf for a month with no buyers. I don't see the people out and about like other years. What I mean is usally memorial day weekend I would always start seeing out of the area people in the general store. I don't see to many outsiders as I call them in town. Seems like nobody wants to spend money on gas to get away for the weekend. How is your syrup sales going?

[mountainvan]

Sales are up 50% from last year at the same time. I raised prices across the board but does'nt seem to be a deterent to sales.

[Russell Lampron]

My sales are down a little from last year but not by much. I have some orders to fill later in the fall that will pretty much catch me up to where I should be and I expect to be sold out by next season as usual.

[brookledge]

My sales are going good. I'd say I'm alittle over last years pace.
Keith

[lew]

We raised our prices last fall to 45/gal., 25/ 1/2 gal., 15/qt. We do a couple of apple festivals in the fall (have done the same festivals for about 15 years) and noticed that we still made the same same amount of money that we had made in previous years, but did not move as much product. To me that says I'm moving backwards. In order to move forwards, I should have been able to raise prices and still sold the same volume of product, therefor increasing my profits. On the other hand, I have syrup in the bulk department at a natural food store and my volume has remained the same in spite of the 25% price increase. I think this means that people out on the town looking for entertainment (ie. people at festivals, going for a ride to see the leaves change, etc.) are not spending as much on their entertainment. But people shopping for staples (luckily people who frequent natural food stores consider pure maple syrup a staple) have continued to absorb the price increase.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

During season my sales were a bit ahead of normal. I had 2 new outlets that moved an extra 10 gallons or so plus we had some visitors from "yesteryear" that took some. I have lost a summer festival that used to be good for $500 worth of sales but hope to make up for it with more participation at fairs etc. I am trying to slowly build my retail end of the business by searching for repeat type customers.
Doug

[Revi]

We sold the stuff we wanted to sell back in April. We will sell a little more, but I consider maple syrup to be money in the bank. Anything we have left we'll sell this summer and into the fall, no problem.

I think if you just hang in there you'll sell all that syrup in New Jersey.

[ennismaple]

Sales are good in Ontario. Combined with a below average season we need to...gulp... buy a couple barrels of syrup. Prices for buying bulk syrup are extremely high but you can make a few dollars retailing it and at worst you keep your markets for next year.

[Maplepro]

ennismaple- Whats bulk going for up your way? is there any to be found? i am looking for 5-10 Barrels but can't find any.

[ennismaple]

ennismaple- Whats bulk going for up your way? is there any to be found? i am looking for 5-10 Barrels but can't find any.

$4.05/lb to buy a bulk drum of syrup which is unbelievably expensive. We're getting ours from Atkinson's but their website now says they're sold out. Jakeman's may have some but I haven't spoken with them.

[TomBaumberger]

If you happen to be going thru Ohio anytime soon, I have about 1100 lbs of good syrup I can let go of for $3/lb.

[maple flats]

I am sold out. My production was excellent. On 500 taps gravity i made 186 gal. I got unusually great newspaper coverage, 3 times leading up tp maple weekend. At mapleweekend I had the sugarhouse packed to capacity with overflow waiting to get in for 5 hrs each day and sales were tremendous. I raised my prices some but sold out before the recent increases came to be. In retail containers I only have a few containers in glass with the some total under 3 gal, I have no bulk left and I have no plastic left. I also bought 6 gal bulk to fill some orders when the bulk price was only $2.60 lb. I might buy a little more bulk but likely not much. I also had 15 gal bulk carried from last year which is also sold. I should have raised my prices more and sooner. I sold very few in gal, but at $40.00, I sold several half gal at $23, mostly quarts at $13.50, several pints at $7.50 and just a few half pints at $4.50. These were my plastic prices. I still have a little 07 syrup at a store that ended up being closed because of health problems since I put it in there almost a year ago. I am going to go take that back soon. Most is in glass which will be good, a little in plastic, not real sure about it. I will likely open it, test and if still good to sell, re-package it. If not good enough I will pack it to bulk for next year bulk sales. The only bulk I have ever sold is B and commercial. Next year my prices are likely to jump, but not as much as gas has recently. I like having stock on hand for Christmas and to start the next season for early sales before I start to package the new crop.

[802maple]

I was wondering how many people are selling at a record level that are selling above 50 dollars or even 60 dollars a gallon. I know syrup that is selling at 40-45 dollars a gallon is still selling as many producers have been selling at that price for years and the consumers are used to it. I am most interested as my wife is a co-manager at the Big-E VMSMA booth and with todays bulk prices to make a fair profit it will have to be in the 55-60 dollar range or higher.

[ennismaple]

Our 4L price is $57. With 1 USG = 3.7854L that works out to $54 per USG.

With bulk prices for selling at $3/lb you're losing money by selling in retail containers at $40 per gallon.

Not meaning to stir the pot - but I don't buy the argument that you keep selling at the same price because consumers are used to it. Ask them what they paid for bread, milk and eggs 5 years ago and it was certainly much less. Why shouldn't syrup increase just like everything else? It costs us more to make it and with margins so thin (or non-existent) higher production costs have to be passed on to the customer or you're out of business pretty fast.

I'll step down off my soap box now...

[gmcooper]

Our syrup sales had been holding up quite well until last 2 weeks. That is kind of typical for us as well. June thru August is our slowest season for sales on the farm. Our Wholesale accounts have been rather quiet and I suspect price increases have been part of that.
On a diffenrt area our greenhouse sales have been OK but seem to be tapering off faster than normal. One thing is for certain that the high cost of gas and heating oil is on the mind of most all our customers. News tonight had prebuy heating oil prices for next winter at $4.65 per gallon.
Toady we started putting in our first hay of the year. We had 3 tractors running for several hours, 2 baling and 1 raking. I don't want to even think what that cost per hour. The hay quality is great but our customers might think it should be solid gold when they buy next winter.

[220 maple]

Best year sales wise ever. Only have 12 gallon left to bottle. And almost 5 gallon of that has been requested by previous customers. I mention in another post that I raised my prices this year. The only reason I did that was the cost of gas and jugs. I going to try and hold 5 gallon until the fall to put up in christmas glass. I have customers that give maple syrup for christmas every year.

Mark 220 Maple

[802maple]

I am not saying you should not get more. I am wondering if the people that are selling their syrup for the 55 to 60 range are having good years or are sales stagnant. We are trying to figure out how much to bottle into the larger containers.

[gmcooper]

After thinking on what our sales have been this spring. Gallon jugs are about normal volume at $48.(need to go up).
1/2 gallons are up 50% or more in volume at $25 (and should go up)
Quarts are up slightly at $15
Smaller are all down and glass is down also.
I really feel our customers are looking for value and the larger container does that more this year then in the past.

[maple flats]

I sold out early before I saw a rapid climb in the prices. If early sales had not been extremely good I would be selling now for much higher than I sold out at in mid April. Hind sight. I think a gal now should be at $55-60 and the breakdown for smaller sizes from there should be relative to that gal price. I use a formula I found in an old Maple Producers manual for the relationship of the various sizes, but I calculate the syrup prices and then add current container price and then round to a price ending i like. I do not go with .99 endings, but round to 1/4 dollar, IE .25, .50, .75 and .00 endings. And I have a degree in retail management. However I believe that almost everybody rounds the prices up a penny anyway.

[VtSugarhouse]

Well since I can sell all my syrup in bulk at $4.00 lb and not have to invest in smaller containers or time to repack. I am only retailing what I have to and the rest is going bulk this year. This is the first time ever.
I dont see the price of syrup going down even with a bumper crop next year.
There is just too little to go around this year, and none of my retail customers are even questioning the increase in syrup prices this year.
I only wish I had many more barrells of syrup to sell.

[brookledge]

Where are you selling it for $4.00/lb?
The most I've heard of was $3.25
Keith

[mapleman3]

I have 40 gals I will sell at 4 bucks a pound for sure! I need $$ for next years tubing and stuff ;)

I have been selling but it has been slow, so I am waiting for the bulk to go up just a bit more then will sell or trade for tubing.

[sawyer40]

How much does a gallon of syrup weigh anyway?

[ennismaple]

How much does a gallon of syrup weigh anyway?

I think it's 11.3 lbs. I know 4L is 11.66lbs.

Our syrup is selling at $57 for a 4L container but the most common sizes at this time of year are 1L and 500mL. People looking for the large containers generally seem to get them during or right after the season.

[TapME]

Wow; I guess this years under the tree gifts are going to be good ones. One pint of syrup and about 2#s of maple butter( a pint of syrup and a pound butter mixed together).

[wdchuck]

Ok- I'll bite too- where can you get $4/lb bulk for your syrup? Talk is cheap, show me the money!

[ennismaple]

Ok- I'll bite too- where can you get $4/lb bulk for your syrup? Talk is cheap, show me the money!

The wholesale buyers are re-selling drums for $4/lb. There isn't much out there to purchase so they're demanding a premium.

[wdchuck]

Right, the wholesalers are selling for $4/lb, but VTSugarhouse said he could sell for that price. So who's paying? I'm sticking my neck out there and I'll say that prices have gone up too much too fast and we'll see some consumer reluctance if they go up much more.............

[markcasper]

Yes....who is buying at $4.00 lb.? The last time I heard, 30 days ago or so, Wis was only paying $2.30. At $4.00 lb, $4.00 gas is not to hard to take for the trip.

[wdchuck]

Mark-I think you get my point- $4/lb isnt sustainable. Oh yeah the ride is nice for the time being, so enjoy..........The big guys already own most of the supply and would sell at $4. Who wouldnt? So my question's still out there- Who's buying at $4..............................Anyone?........... ........................Heeeellllllllloooooo!

[brookledge]

If you knew someone who was going to buy at $4.00 then you might be able to sell directly to them at a little less than $4.00. But in most cases the ones who buy in large quanites are only dealing with large wholesalers. So unless you know somone who buys from a wholesaler you are stuck selling to the wholesaler. That is what wholesalers are in business for.
At this point I'm satisfied with my 3.25 I got locally, even though the person I sold to would have had to pay more than that if they bought it from Bascom's or another wholesaler
Keith

[802maple]

The one thing that is forgotten out there is if you expect a buyer to pay 4 dollars a lb. then you must be willing to expect to get atleast 60 a gallon for your retail syrup at the bare minimum, because they are going to have to sell for more than that to make a profit. Actually the syrup that they pay 4 dollars a lb. for is going to be marked to the 75-80 dollars agallon by the time it gets to the consumer.

[ennismaple]

At $4/lb we can make some money retailing our syrup. Not nearly as much as selling our own syrup but we bought it to make sure we don't lose our retail markets to someone else who would be doing the same thing. It's more about next year and beyond than making money in 2008.

[Jim Brown]

Any one had to buy any syrup yet this year and if so what did you have to pay for it?( i know what you can sell it for whole sale) We are down to our last 100gallon and will have to be buying soon and was wondering how big a loan was was going to have to take out!
Thanks guys for the input.



Jim

[brookledge]

Jim
Expect to pay between 3.75 and 4 per lb
Keith

[VtSugarhouse]

I have all my remaining syrup pre-sold at $4.05 / lb. plus they pick it up with no shipping costs. I am selling all my back log too at this price.
Looking at next year I dont see the price going down. As a matter of fact I already am seeing other sugar makers not firing up there evaporators next year and instead they are pooling the sap in more efficent high volume evaporators.
So we should at least have the syrup but the demand will still be there. Bulk syrup is like money in the bank.

Good luck!!

[Homestead Maple]

Does anyone know how things are with Maple Grove? I understand that their parent company closed the operation down for awhile but they are now back in operation.

[super sappy]

I had a run on syrup over the weekend, just a bunch of calls from the Greenwich NY area. The local Hannaford had just stocked the shelves with syrup from Maine - $36.99 per half gallon, $18.40 per qt , $10.95 per pt.. Several orders from Troy NY tonight so I guess the price went up there too. I guess my $50 per gallon aint so bad after all.My evaporator that I bought last year is all paid for. Tonight I am happy for me -SS

[802maple]

You are right. 50 dollar a gallon is cheap compared to what the packers and stores that buy from them are going to have to get. You will see most of the stores going up now, the syrup in there was still sold to them at last years prices, as contracts went thru July at many stores. Now is when will see how the higher bulk prices effect sales. I have seen syrup as high as 68 dollars a half gallon and 39 dollars a quart in Burlington.

[Jim Brown]

Noticed in Wal-Mart that 12oz.of Maple Grove Dark amber was $7.68 That makes it around $77.00 a gallon ,give or take! Mine at $48.00 looks cheap!

Jim