TOURISTS flock to Quebec each autumn to see its forests turn bright colours. The beautiful foliage, however, conceals a dark secret: the province’s tree-tappers are ripping off pancake-lovers. The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) tries to control the price of its product much as OPEC does that of oil. Its members—and all syrup producers in the province must join or risk having their output seized by FPAQ’s enforcers—are subject to quotas. Any excess syrup is put into FPAQ’s stockpile, and producers only get paid for it when it is sold, often years later. The intention is to keep prices high and stable by limiting supply. But like most cartels, FPAQ is sapping its own prospects.
Quebec is the Saudi Arabia of syrup, accounting for 71% of global production. But in a bittersweet echo of the oil price run-up of recent years, high prices have encouraged the development of new supplies. America’s maple-syrup harvest grew from 21m pounds (7.2m litres) in 2012 to 35m in 2014. The state of New York alone has more maple trees than all of Quebec, although few of them are tapped. America...Continue reading
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