2015 Bulk Pricing

[CBOYER]

Statu quo for 2015 in Qc (In french)

http://www.laterre.ca/actualites/for...x-du-sirop.php

[BreezyHill]

I don't think there is enough coffee in Columbia to help see the relevance.

One only needs to think back to class of Weimar Germany in 1923 to see the effects of printing money on an economy. Better put a pot on to read this history lesson. LOL.

"Quantitative easing is a mechanism by which The Fed can inject more money into the economy, virtually out of thin air..."

"The main problem with printing money is the danger of inflation. Inflation occurs when money in the system increases and the supply of goods and services does not increase at the same rate. For example, take a simple system in which there are one million goods. If there were $1 million in that system, then the goods would even out to each be worth $1. If, however, suddenly the money supply doubled to $2 million without the number of goods increasing, then the price of each good would double to $2 as well. Each dollar will have lost 50% of its purchasing power."

If you are still not getting how a weak US dollar compared to the strong Canadian dollar drives down the US price of Maple syrup; I suggest visiting Walmart or Target for a copy of Economics for Dummies...the cost is around $10 and has a 3.5 out of 5 star rating at Barnes and Noble.

Now some people are offended by the name of these publications but it in no way reflects on the readers, just the publisher.
I know a few accountant s that have this book on their shelf when they need to explain things to their clients.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

If you are still not getting how a weak US dollar compared to the strong Canadian dollar drives down the US price of Maple syrup


Perhaps Ben, you need to think this through. When the Canadian dollar was strong in comparison to the US dollar we had better syrup prices.

[SeanD]

I must be one of those dummies because I'm looking at data that shows the inflation rate has not only been held in check since January of 2008, but has actually gone down quite a bit - frankly plummeted. It hasn't been over 2% in about 2 years.

Take a look at what the inflation rates were before Obama started "printing money".

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com...flation-rates/

Sean

[PATheron]

If what Doc is saying is true if the American dollar was weaker by 15% We'd be getting 2.90 for our syrup so wed benefit more in this particular instance as producers with a weak us dollar. Is this how it is? If the us dollar is weaker we cant buy as much with our dollar as consumers but as producers it benefits us and makes us more competitive? Other thing is how with the exchange rate being what it was under bush would our gas be a dollar a gallon? Is that a fact or are we just making sh@# up to reinforce some kind of partisan political bullcrap? Theron

[can'twaitforabigrun]

I just started a new thread in the Sugar Inn if anyone wishes to discuss exchange rates or US monetary policy. Or even Obama.

Theron, not sure if Doc even said that the US dollar is weaker. It is indeed stronger, as it costs $0.84 Cdn for $1 USD. https://www.google.ca/finance?q=CADUSD Therefore, at the current Quebec Federation price of $2.90 /lb Canadian , American packers can buy that Quebec syrup for approx. $2.45/lb American. If the Cdn $ was at par or above, it would be cheaper for American packers to buy US syrup for $2.85-$2.90, instead of the Quebec syrup.

Hopefully this helps.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Also, it's not entirely a matter of the strength of the US dollar, but rather the weakness of the Cdn dollar.

[PATheron]

I think ive got it. Stronger Canadian dollar higher bulk prices for producers or if the American dollar is weaker we would still have higher bulk prices right? So it still is that no matter how you look at it a weaker US dollar does help make the American producers more money. Weaker us dollar would make any form of production or manufacturing in the us more competitive with rest of world. Ill freely admit Im no expert just trying to understand. Theron

[DrTimPerkins]

If you are still not getting how a weak US dollar compared to the strong Canadian dollar drives down the US price of Maple syrup;

Actually you've got that totally reversed. The US dollar is strong compared to the Canadian dollar. The net effect is that the Federation can pay their producers for Quebec syrup at $2.92/lb, which means that US producers get $0.85 to the Canadian dollar, or about US $2.48/lb.

I still think this is not the place for this discussion, however the "printing of money", or more correctly, quantitative easing, is probably the reason our economy is still chugging along compared to other economies around the world, so much so that now some of those other places are trying to emulate it. It is designed to incentivize financial institutions to loan out money, which they were loathe to do after the Great Recession. This approach has decidedly NOT resulted in inflation -- the greater fear these past few years has been deflation. The real problem is not that we're taxed too much, or that we spend too much, that argument can go on endlessly (and has). The problem is that the two are out of balance. Congress doesn't like to tax, but they like to spend. It is bad enough to do one or the other, but doing both is crazy.

Weimar Germany had many problems other than the printing of money. They had little recourse except to print money given the excessive war (WWI) reparations they were forced (almost literally at gunpoint) to agree to. Probably their biggest problem was that (eventually) there was the damage to their society caused by WWI and its aftermath was a total lack of balance in their government. That is what happens when one side gains total control. There are plenty of examples of what happens when either the extreme right or left of any political party has complete control.....not a single one of them is good.

[BreezyHill]

While I am not an economist, let me try to explain this.

When the Canadian price is set for a pound at say $2 for easy math the US producer only will get the exchange rate at the time. Right now it is $.834, so the offer would be for $1.668. Now with the rate at $1.35 US then you would be getting $2.70 for the same pound.

10 years ago this was a great thing for farmers and truckers. You could take the US dollar and get #1.30-$1.40 above the border and purchase northern equipment and make out very well.

Yes, the inflation rate is at nearly zero, due to the lack of funds in the consumers bank account and the FED keeping the interest rate so low. When people are buying products and spending money inflation can increase. The interest rate is used to keep inflation in check. When inflation is a problem the rate increases. When the economy is in trouble and needs stimulation the rate is lowered. Lower rates can stimulate people to purchase large ticket items, keeping people employed. Look at the 0% financing rates for cars, trucks, tractors and such; if that doesn't get you looking what will?

Economics affects every part of our lives. Learning and understanding the exchange rate is only a small part of our industry and impacts our bottom lines.

to see the current rates visit http://www.x-rates.com/table/?from=USD&amount=1

This shows the US Dollar against many other countries currency.