2016 Bulk Pricing

[Parker]

I do apolgise for the poor spelling,,,im pretty beat after the big e and deerfield fairs where i was struggling to get the taste of pure maple syrup into the hands of new custumers for the last 12 days,,,,those 14 to 16 hour days are just like sugaring season,,trying ,increase retail market for maple and all that.....imho,,,,,retailing syrup and value added products is going to be the only way to make it going forward,,,,,as the bulk price drops..alot......yes genral i did read the artical,,,thank you for posting it.......we just have VERY diffrent opinions

[220 maple]

Hey fellow traders did not mean to create a storm about Costco Maple Syrup being a little pricey, I hate it as much as the next producer, however I do have a fellow producer in my county that sales quarts for 9 pints for 5, halves for 15 and gallons for 30, and no they are not Amish, the reason is quite interesting however, lets just say the power of a woman, a young woman at that, probably said to much already, hopefully you can figure it out.

Mark 220 Maple

[PerryFamily]

I think its Quebec response to the sugaring boom here in the US. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of new taps added here. I'm sure they are feeling the pressure from their producers as well.Just flexing their muscles.

[CBOYER]

and to reply to "Rapport Gagné" that propose to the Government to eliminate the Federation controls...

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...vincial-report

[DrTimPerkins]

The price of syrup in the U.S. has almost nothing to do with supply as a consequence of the situation in Quebec. The price the packers pay is dictated by the Canadian Federation price after factoring in the Canadian Currency Exchange rate. The Federation syrup price hasn't gone done, but the exchange rate has. Therefore what packers will pay for U.S. syrup is down (why would they pay more to U.S. suppliers than they can get it from Canada given that they are selling to the same marketplace and have to compete on cost). Other than that, it depends upon how far they have to truck it and how much the middle-man gets. It is cheap to run several tractor trailer loads down the highway from Quebec to the packers in VT or NH. It costs way more to send them all around the back roads to pick up 10 barrels here and 5 barrels there to get a full load. That is reflected in the price they might pay.

Now whether a packer actually does buy your syrup or not this year IS related to the supply. The packers only have so much space in their warehouses and only so much money their creditors will loan them to buy syrup. They can pretty much only buy what they can store and sell if they wish to stay in business. Given the huge crop this year, you shouldn't be surprised (if you didn't have a prior relationship and agreement in place with them) that they can't take your syrup. That is the nature of any product with high annual fluctuations in production.

[DrTimPerkins]

I think its Quebec response to the sugaring boom here in the US. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of new taps added here. I'm sure they are feeling the pressure from their producers as well.Just flexing their muscles.

That is exactly what it is. Quebec producers didn't like the fact that U.S. producers could expand, and were concerned with losing market share. The Federation had to do something to appease its members and to try to regain market share. They could have done other things, such as dropping the price of syrup, however that would have impacted the value of their crop and the price paid to producers. This was the "least bad" option they could choose.

[fred]

Also a major contributor is there used to be several years of production , waiting to be released. They now have less than a years supply and have to meet needs

[BreezyHill]

There should be a spread sheet developed for producers to fill in so that they can see what their break even point is. I am certain that someone with more time on their hands can jump into excel and get it done.
Then producers can plug in the costs of their equipment and its life span, elec costs per kw, normal usage per machine with the units of horse power, heat, bottle costs, cold storage expenses, tanks, tubing, annual spouts, etc

You can shrink your sales price but you can not shrink your expense line with out careful management and investment in more productive equipment.

DR Tim has done a fine job of showing the producer ways to increase production and now we all need to look at ways of shrinking expenses if we want to weather the storm.

We have a new Super Walmart around the corner from our Feed store and they are selling Qts 17.98 1/2s at 31.98 in plastic from a VT producer. that's under us for now but after I build a SS for us in the coming week I will know what I have to charge to make a profit.

And Yes we are in it for a profit. If not than we will cut back and just supply the steady customers and family.

It has been my experience that one needs to have a quality product and reasonable prices to stay in business. Those that are cheap are usually at that price for only a couple of reasons: recoup of investment, need working capitol, clear out old stock or over supply. All good reasons but what driving factor caused this change will predict the future better than the selling price.

Word to the wise. Set your price and print off some coupons for customers to use. The value of the coupon can be tax deducted. We do this in the store all the time when we bring in new product and it is a LD,(Lazy Dog). Had a feed that didn't move for 6 weeks so the manufacturer gave us a book of coupons and it flew out the door at $5 off a bag. Now we have people wanting to buy at regular price.

Drop a book of coupons at a local coffee store for them to give to customers. Get them in the door and take care of them.

Ben

[Stanbridge]

Quebec Federation has just announced that Grade A bulk price will be 2,95$ CAD for 2017, which converts to about 2,23$ USD. This is what US producers will most likely get this year, assuming the exchange rate remains relatively unchanged.

[ennismaple]

From the press release dated Jan 4/17:

2017 prices will be as follows: Golden $2.95, Amber $2.94, Dark $2.85, and Very Dark $2.55. The price of syrups classified as Canada Processing Grade will remain $1.80. The premium for certified organic maple syrup has increased from $0.175/pound to $0.18/pound.