Can't find a thread, anyone know what the bulk price is looking like?
Can't find a thread, anyone know what the bulk price is looking like?
30x40 Sugarhouse
975 taps here at home. Still have 3-400 to add in.
3x10 Cabin by the Creek evap with "steamaway"
CDL 600 RO
ebayed Sogevac S65
Spend more time working on a marketing strategy and you won't care about the bulk price. Every drop I make goes at $52 and I see no logical reason to enrich some other fellow with all my hard labor.
Right around $23/Gal. @ Bascom's the last I heard,of course varies with grade and dealer.
Lester at Highland Sugarworks told us it was 2.10/lb. That was 3 weeks ago. In regard to the comment "spend more time marketing"...Most of us get into sugaring to make syrup not running around soliciting your product. Maybe selling a thousand gallons of syrup retail is easy for some. I imagine for many it is not that easy. Retail is really another job. If that is what you like to do then sure, why not. I know some sugarmakers that do the farmers markets all summer long. Personally sitting in a chair peddling syrup on a nice summer day is my idea of hell. To sum it up I am glad there are bulk buyers. A guy can sell most of his syrup, get paid and go do something else.
3x8 Algier Evaporator. 600 gph Lapierre RO. 10" Filter press. We buy sap.
It is pretty naive to think that bulk price has nothing to do with your retail price of syrup. Your retail price will feel pressure from the bulk price unless you are able to supply all your own and have NO competition. When bulk market tanks, retail price gets pulled down as more try to retail and because of increased competition you have to keep lowering the retail price in order to keep selling Syrup. So it turns into the great race to the bottom.
Sugaring for 45+ years
New Sugarhouse 14'x32'
New to Me Algier 2'x8' wood fired evaporator
2022 added a used RB25 RO Bucket
250 mostly Sugar Maples, 15% Soft Maples. Currently,(110on 3/16" and 125 on Shurflo 4008 vacuum, 15 gravity), (16,000 before being disabled)
1947 Farmall H and Wagon with gathering tank
2012 Kubota with forks to move wood around
I've said it before and will say it again. Do all you can to retail your syrup, within your time constraints. I sell all of mine retail and even in a good season I still need to buy some to meet my sales. I have only spent 1 summer selling at a farmer's market, but some producers do 2 or 3 every week. Even some who make their living on maple. I only sell at 3-4 places. Number 1 is my website, #2 is sometimes my house, sometimes my 1 retail outlet and the 4th is the sugarhouse, mostly at open houses. I spend $180/year for the only advertising I do (plus 5% of net sales thru that ad.). Yes, marketing is a whole different job, but if you want to make any money you will do it. The best part about selling to the consumer is that, if you have a good product you will usually have a long term customer. I have customers who buy from 8-12 gal/year to one who buys 25 gal/year, all in half gallon jugs. I also have customers who buy a whole case (24 bottles) of bourbon barrel aged syrup 2-3 times a year, at full retail I might add. These and other customers take time, but again, if you make a good product they will come. It took me about 7-8 years before I sold 200 gal a year at retail, now I sell 300-350 all at retail. I already had to buy 1 barrel full this year because my trees thawed slower than some others who had southern exposure bushes.
If you try a few ways, without even needing to take the time to sell at farmer's markets you'd be pleasantly surprised how much you will sell.
Those who buy bulk make the money, not the producer, just like in dairy farming. The bulk prices will hardly cover your costs.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.
In this market a small producer will lose money if they don't size their operation to their retail market. The only thing that can beat the Canadians in the current bulk market environment is bravo. The history of the supply side theory is littered with carcasses.
Bruce Treat
825 Sugar Maple Taps
3/16 w/ DSD .225 Spiles
H2O RO
H2O 2.5 X 8
Bow, New Hampshire
Another thread going sideways because people aren’t answering the OP’s question, but instead going off on a tangent of how bad it is to even consider what bulk pricing is. I don’t know what bulk currently is because I haven’t inquired lately. Everyone knows that you can make more retail than bulk, if you have the time and markets to do so. So to keep beating that horse to death doesn’t answer Dill’s question.
Sugaring for 45+ years
New Sugarhouse 14'x32'
New to Me Algier 2'x8' wood fired evaporator
2022 added a used RB25 RO Bucket
250 mostly Sugar Maples, 15% Soft Maples. Currently,(110on 3/16" and 125 on Shurflo 4008 vacuum, 15 gravity), (16,000 before being disabled)
1947 Farmall H and Wagon with gathering tank
2012 Kubota with forks to move wood around
Alden,
$2.10/lb when I was at Bascom's on Saturday.
Also, I sent you a PM with an insurance question. Did you get it?
Thanks, Bill
2017 - 3 taps hanging buckets.
2018 - 32 taps on 5 gal. buckets.
2019 - New Mason 2x4 XL. 80 taps
2020 - Barn / Sugarhouse finished. 125 taps. NextGen 1x40 RO
2021 - 157 taps, 100 on 3/16 tubing w/two Shurflo set-ups, the rest on buckets
2022 - 225 taps. 175 on 3/16 tubing, rest on buckets.
2023 - 300 taps. 261 on tubing, 39 on 5 gal. buckets. Four Shurflo 12V set-ups.
2024 - 340 taps. New SL 2x4 hybrid pan. Added second 1x40 membrane to RO
Glad there is a market for bulk syrup! Prices will probably stay in that range as it seems to have been a good to above average year for production of syrup. It takes time and money to retail any product.
Regards,
Chris
Casbohm Maple and Honey
625 roadside taps + Neighbors bring some sap too!
3x10 King, WRU, AOF and AUF
12" SIRO Filter Press.
2015 Ford F250 PSD sap hauler
One Golden named Maggie, Norwegian Forest Cat named Lucy
Too many Cub Cadets
Ford Jubilee and several Allis WD's, and IH tractors
1932 Ford AAB ton and a half, dump truck
www.mapleandhoney.com