2018 Bulk Price

No offense fellas but if everyone put their syrup in glass bottles this over supply issue would still be the same , syrup consumers are not going to start using more syrup just because it's in a glass bottle. Sure it looks good and yes I do bottle maybe 10-15% in glass but it's just not a driver of change.

More time needs to be spent on expanding your markets and sampling syrup, most people think there's only a few ways to use maple syrup. Educating the public on the health benefits of maple syrup vs corn syrup, and the many ways it can be used are the only way to increase demand in my opinion. I don't sell any bulk syrup, in fact I bought over a 100 gallons last year over and above what I made, I only want to make syrup that I can retail.

The bulk price will not recover in my opinion until the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar at at Par. And I don't see that happening until the next recession.

At current prices (Canadian bulk price at $2.95/lb, U.S. bulk price at $2.00/lb), then approximately 59% of the reason U.S. prices are low is attributable to the Canadian $ to U.S. $ exchange rate, and 41% is attributable to oversupply. Currently, oversupply is driving the continued downward price trend in the U.S. Without any oversupply, U.S. bulk prices would be around $2.39, which most producers would probably be satisfied with.

I have hust finished reading bruce's book....a real eye opener in terms of the bulk market........
Its not like the bulk situation is a big surprise....and its not like the bulk price is ever going to go up all too much...common sense....but....what gets me is the add more taps cheerleaders....if you read bruces book you see canadian syrup is more expensive that current u.s. syrup...packers make their living on the margin (thats their job, and packers work hard to develop and keep their markets) the more syrup is made in the u.s. the less they have to pay and the more they make (good biz).....
The more efficiant you are the lower the bulk price has to be to make it, but you still need to be able to move product to make money..and with a saturated market for bulk it does not seem like a great time to add a bunch of taps to me, but, to each their own
I stopped at a sugarhouse in marshfield vt this fall that was being built,,,a palace,,millions of dollars,,like 70,000 taps,,i asked the manager where they were planning to sell the syrup,,he said "we will figure it out"
I think there is a fair ammount of expansion going on where folks dont need to make a profit (maple guild in island pond for example) showing a loss on paper can be helpful in some situations
We are in interesting times in the industry and it will be interesting to see what the market looks like in june

And, i think, the federation is not happy about losing market share to u.s producers and i believe they will lower their price going forward to squeeze out all the u.s producers that they can (why are they adding so many taps when they have an oversupply allready?
Invest in retailing your syrup...its a pajn and alot of work but bulk prices are not going up anytime soon

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Originally Posted by spud

I was told prices are dropping another .20cents this year. Butternut has 18,000 barrels of syrup in warehouses right now. As the world market for syrup increases 7% a year, the bulk price of syrup decreases 10%. It's still a good time to get into sugaring but hold off on those big AG loans. I know a handful of people that have these Ag loans and their in a panic every year just to make the yearly payment. When your day job has to help pay for your Ag loan payment you know your in trouble.

Spud

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I was told if you can't make your ag loan they will write it down for you. The Department of AG can't go lower than what they would get at an auction. One guy told me it was just government money anyway. How hard do they try to get the money out of you up your way?

Radio Silence.

I sell lots of syrup in glass and I do find that many customers prefer it for a number of reasons. But, I do find that packing exclusively in glass would limit my sales, especially for people traveling...I also find it difficult to force some philosophical presumption onto people, and while my preference is glass, I'm not going to try to convince someone it should be theirs. But to each their own...

In the syrup in plastic jugs race to the bottom, it still appears that Craigs List is the choice for producers looking to compensate for low bulk prices. I see Thad's gallon prices are still the lowest in VT for big jugs, but the kid selling pints for $6 and half pints for $3.50 has him beat....

While I sell all of my grade A syrup at retail, and I offer both glass and plastic in all but my bourbon barrel aged maple syrup (that is only packed in glass) I sell very little in glass. Most of my customers buy plastic because it saves them money.
Maybe I'm too much of a realist, but my glass prices reflect my cost of the container. In any given size I take the comparable plastic jug, subtract the jug cost, find the syrup /oz and then get add the glass price , do the math, and that's then my in glass price. My customers vote with their pocket books.
I even had a nice display at a boutique, with several choices in glass, showing 2 and 3 faces on the shelf with only 1 face each size in plastic. I only sold 2 containers in glass adding sales for both Nov and Dec., aside from the Bourbon Barrel aged syrup, in that I had 2 faces in glass and sold 56 bottles during that time at that location. My syrup in glass does look crystal clear too, it is not the least bit cloudy.
I do not try to force my customers to buy one over the other, I simply pack and sell what they want.

When people say that glass is more expensive than plastic are they talking just fancy glass? I can get glass quart decanter bottles for just over a buck a piece but plastic is around $1.50. For me glass is cheaper than plastic unless you go with fancy glass.

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Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins

At current prices (Canadian bulk price at $2.95/lb, U.S. bulk price at $2.00/lb), then approximately 59% of the reason U.S. prices are low is attributable to the Canadian $ to U.S. $ exchange rate, and 41% is attributable to oversupply. Currently, oversupply is driving the continued downward price trend in the U.S. Without any oversupply, U.S. bulk prices would be around $2.39, which most producers would probably be satisfied with.

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Thanks Dr. Tim.