World Record Production -- World Record Demand??
Vermont, Canada, and other places have reported all-time maple syrup production records for 2022.
This is awesome!
I would have to assume this means there is more maple syrup inventory right now in the world than there has ever been at one time.
This means we also need a world-record demand.
Do you think we have that?
(I think we do actually... when I heard maple syrup being mentioned by Ben and Erin Napier on their show in the deeeep-south-y'all, I knew the word was getting out)
Andy
World Record
There should be plenty of syrup available! I’ve not raised my prices, but syrup is not selling like last year! Apparently it has something to do with inflation. It’s slightly my fault I didn’t send back my stimulus money like my Amish friends did! I didn’t get any PPP money just because it was handed out by the thousands, and I can’t afford a electric truck or car at this point too help drive down the price of gasoline!
Mark 220 Maple
1100 taps on low vaccum, 900 on gravity.
900 plus taps leased and on high vacuum
35 cfm Indiana Liquid Ring Vacuum Pump
80% Sugar, 20% Red MAPLES
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Maple%20Syrup/
I didn't think I could get whiplash at my laptop. What just happened there?Originally Posted by 220 maple
Andy, demand has generally exceeded supply with maple in recent years. The markets keep expanding. With the off year last year for the northerners and Canada this should restore their reserve, too.
Woodville Maples
www.woodvillemaples.com
www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
Deer Run 250 RO
Ford F350
6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.
Demand (based upon sales) was growing at about the same rate as production (5-8%) pre-Covid. During Covid demand surged as people were home more and making more large breakfasts with family and cooking more with "comfort" foods. Demand was high enough to draw down the Quebec Federation strategic reserve considerably faster than projected. That combined with a short crop in 2021 meant that 2022 production was critical to supplying the world-wide market demand for maple.
Had the 2022 crop been poor, in the short-term syrup prices would have spiked, however that would have led to a large reduction in demand, and set the industry back tremendously. Having a stable supply and stable price is very important in the national and international marketplace. That is what has led to the huge growth in the industry over the past 15-20 yrs.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
That's really cool. I have long been fascinated by the laws of supply and demand, but it took a pandemic for me to start thinking about how limited or sporadic supply can erode demand, especially over the longer term, and how on the flip side, "if you build it they will come". I have seen it pre-pandemic too, such as a restaurant reducing service to match demand, and a resulting drop in demand, and the cycle continues until they go out of business. How cool it is that during this time of supply chain issues, maple has been "old reliable"... partly by luck and a lot by hard work.
I forgot to mention one other anecdotal sign that the word is getting out... a Great British Bake-Off contestant cited maple syrup as an ingredient recently. In this case as well as in the "Home Town" show case, I don't know with absolute certainty that they meant actual maple products... you know how that goes... but I suspect they did.
220 Maple: You took that to politics pretty quickly. I wonder if too much political content in your personal interactions and potentially on your vehicle bumpers, lawn, and social media could be a factor affecting business? Increasingly I'm seeing people start conversations with "did you hear the latest dumb thing such and such political party just did?" even if they barely know me or just met me. This will tend to make people steer clear, often even if they're on your political "side". No idea if that is happening to you but couldn't help think of it as something to check.
Last edited by Andy VT; 06-22-2022 at 01:45 PM.
Andy,
Sorry to disappoint you, don’t have any bumper stickers or signs in the yard, don’t have flags flying, I’m just saying syrup is not selling like last year, I have one wholesale location that purchased 10000 dollars worth in 2021, at the pace syrup is selling now, won’t get near that number, my point is inflation, however it happened
Mark 220 Maple
1100 taps on low vaccum, 900 on gravity.
900 plus taps leased and on high vacuum
35 cfm Indiana Liquid Ring Vacuum Pump
80% Sugar, 20% Red MAPLES
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Maple%20Syrup/
Sorry, I shouldn't have gone there! Fair enough. Something still not adding up though... inflation is everywhere, yet others are reporting strong maple syrup sales. If true, there has to be another factor... something outside your control I'm now convinced, but something regional perhaps. West Virginia is listed as the U.S.'s fifth-poorest state (had to look that up). That would certainly result in people, on average, having to make tougher purchasing decisions, and it is true that if one is faced with either gas in the car or maple syrup on the table, you'd probably have to go with the gas (though I personally would have to think about it, ha!). So, maybe the difference could be that. Not sure of course.
And as we saw in the news recently https://www.carscoops.com/2022/05/ta...wing-argument/ don't confuse the two.
Andy...Since you're new here....discussions that are political or lean that way are frowned upon in this forum. We get enough of that elsewhere.
Mark...thanks for not taking the bait.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
Dr. Tim,
As you can remember from the past I’ve been fairly consistent about my beliefs that your research center is finding more productive ways to get sap and therefore more syrup, but I always said get the business/marketing department involved at U of Vt. So we don’t have too much syrup setting in reserve.
That being said I am encouraged by the development of selling sap as a drink plus the new product on the block from CDL, Nectar! Both will help keep the syrup price stabilized. In my opinion
Mark 220 Maple
1100 taps on low vaccum, 900 on gravity.
900 plus taps leased and on high vacuum
35 cfm Indiana Liquid Ring Vacuum Pump
80% Sugar, 20% Red MAPLES
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Maple%20Syrup/
I believe it would take more than one record year to flood the market with syrup. Reserves were very low just before the season, and a record year might only get reserves to a comfortable level IMHO.
Personally I always liked my reserve inventory to be at a modest level just after Christmas each year, that was not my case 5 months ago, I had a very low stock. It seems Bruce Bascom said shortly before the season that his stock was too low, a record production should fix that.
I've not seen a loss in sales, and I raised my prices 2x since Christmas, just to keep pace sort of with inflation.
Dave Klish, I recently bought 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.
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