One of the two major buyers in WI knows the price is going to go up a sizable amount. The other is too arrogant to admit it. There's a reason a large buyer from OHIO is in WI trying to round up barrels of syrup.
There will be a lot of syrup headed east if the price doesn't match or come close to the price set in Vermont. You're telling me the price in stores went down when the measly 1.95 a pound was paid by one of the buyers in WI? AHHH no, the pockets just received more lining. They are banking on most producers not being able to hold out long enough. They'll pay more one way or another. You either pay the local producers or you pay to ship it in from Canada or out east. At this point I hope trucks start heading east about mid November so they have to send it right back and pay a premium to bring it back to the state. Its about time the tables turn.
Do the math on this. Bulk price last year in WI was roughly 22 dollars a gallon. In a Nebraska store the price of a quart from that bulk buyer was 20.99 in December of 2020. Who is really making the money? Yet every year we hear on cheesy youtube video how this is all we can pay because of the amount of syrup around blah blah blah. Oh yeah, and you wont be getting your steel drums back. They're only one time use, don't you know that?