In 2010 Jakeman’s will be celebrating
their 134th year of maple sugaring.
2009 turned out
to be a great harvest year with good quality and excellent yield throughout
North Eastern Canada.This was a
blessing, as our industry was basically sold out going into the season.This large crop is just filling
the void left by pent up demand of a world hungry for maple syrup.
Maple syrup has
been the subject of lots of good press lately as well. It happens that maple syrup is
not only good tasting but good for you as well, containing over 40
antioxidants. The world has
awakened to its benefits, fostering weight loss diets, new beverages,
dressings, a host of new uses that pick up on the healthy aspects of a purely
natural organic source of sugar, right from Canada’s pristine forests.
Maple syrup
marketing trends in Canada is healthy domestically, with a whole new generation
discovering maple syrup along with its benefits.The visit to the sugar bush for a pancake experience
has become the tradition, especially in Ontario & Quebec.Where else can you take a
family of 6 to a brunch for a unique experience for $30.00.They sample the food make
their maple syrup purchase and spread the word.This is how 75% of Ontario’s maple syrup is marketed
and what has made Jakeman’s famous.
Jakeman’s are
one of the few Ontario Producers that have taken their products into other
markets. We chose travel
tourism early as we saw our products picked up by travelers visiting Canada
from abroad. This market is
presently under pressure from the recession in regards to motor traffic, but
shows surprising strength in duty paid and duty free airport shops.
For more updates on happenings in the maple syrup industry, click on links below to visit our blogs.
The 2009 sugaring season: A bumper maple syrup crop
Longueuil, June 17, 2009 –
The 2009 season will have yielded a record maple syrup crop, according to
official data from the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers published in
June and confirmed by the Quebec Table
filière acéricole. Indeed, 109.4 million pounds of maple syrup were collected this
past spring, an unprecedented quantity in the Quebec
maple syrup industry. Producers are thrilled with the news,
especially after having produced only half of this volume the
previous year. The former record came in 2004, when 86.5 million
pounds of syrup were harvested. In 2000, another
good production year, Quebec maple syrup producers had delivered
85.8 million pounds.
“This 2009 crop was very positive almost everywhere in Quebec and
exceeded our expectations. Producers are obviously
very happy and relieved. Weather conditions were favourable, with
several weeks of sub-zero nights and days where
temperatures rose above freezing. Plus the moderate snow depth
facilitated the preparation of the sap collection system
and the tapping of the forest. This year’s excellent crop should
be able to meet the demand. The maple industry will be
able to pursue the market development and promotion it has begun
over the past few years,” explained Serge Beaulieu,
president of the Federation.
In 2009, Quebec's average production was around 2.65 pounds of
maple syrup per tap, much higher than the historical
average of 2.25 pounds per tap. As a point of comparison, an
average of only 1.56 pounds per tap was collected in 2008,
for a total of 58.7 million pounds of maple syrup. Approximately
41 million taps were active this year, up significantly
from 34 million in 2007. This increase was made possible by the
distribution of additional quotas to existing producers as
well as some 400 new farms, an FPAQ initiative.
Exhausted reserves
At the beginning of 2009, maple syrup stocks in Quebec ran out,
which created upward pressure on the consumer price
of syrup. The bumper 2009 crop will relieve that pressure. In
fact, consumers have recently noticed the price of a can of
maple syrup in grocery stores has stabilized, or even dropped.
Between 2000 and 2004, the Federation had accumulated a reserve of
nearly 60 million pounds of maple syrup in order
to mitigate the effects of lower production years. This entire
volume was sold between 2005 and 2008, largely because
weather conditions had not been favourable for the maple sap
harvest. International markets had also developed
considerably, to the tune of record exports of 90 million pounds
of Canadian maple syrup in 2007. The primary markets
are, by size, the United States, Japan and Europe.
Because of the shortage in early 2009, buyers offered producers
premiums on their maple syrup, which were added to
the base price agreed between the Federation and the maple syrup
buyers. The premiums were gradually reduced as
production advanced.
The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers was founded in 1966
with the mission of defending and promoting the
economic, social and moral interests of its 7,400 maple
businesses, all working together to collectively market their
products. The quality of their work and their products has made
Quebec the producer of close to 80% of today’s global
maple syrup output.
Source:
Johannie Coiteux
-Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers