ALL BULKED UP
BARRELS ARE STACKING at Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead , N . H . Owner Bruce Bascom reports that he has so much syrup that his warehouse is now full and he still has 80 tractor trailer loads of drums still sitting in the field .
Record-breaking season floods bulk market
Bulk marketers are buried in syrup after two back to back record-breaking seasons in the United States . “ The bulk market is flooded ,” said Bruce Bascom of Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead , N . H . “ Absolutely flooded .”
Average bulk prices in the United States in 2017 are about $ 2.10 per pound for the lightest grades , $ 2.00 per pound for the medium and dark grades and between $ 1.60 and $ 1.85 for the very dark grades . Some buyers pay bonuses for organic . Processing prices have completely bottomed out . Some are paying $ 1.25 per pound . But it ’ s as low as $ 1.00 per pound in some cases . And most bulk buyers have no use for it anymore and have tried to discourage its production .
While bulk buyers have long blamed the dropping bulk prices on a weak Canadian dollar , the situation this year is more tied to simple supply and demand . There is too much syrup in the marketplace for it to be eaten quickly , they said .
This year ’ s worldwide crop is upwards of 200 million pounds , and sales are in the neighborhood of 165 to 180 million pounds , experts say .
Bascom said he has so much syrup it will take well into the fall before he can even create enough capacity in his holding tanks in Alstead to store it all . As of now he said he has upwards of 80 tractor trailer loads worth of drums sitting in sugarhouses in the field .
Bascom said he started the season with
48 U . S . Maple Syrup Almanac 2017