Maple Syrup Costs More Than Oil!



(image via northerncamper)

Good news for the people of the fine state Vermont (we went to college there so we are partial). There is a bull market in 100% maple syrup. The most liberal state in the Union gets the last laugh after all (and, we cannot fail to note, all the way to the bank) Maple syrup, evidently, costs more than oil (which is at $48 a barell). From Bloomberg:

"It’s come to this: Maple syrup is being rationed in Vermont.

"'For the first time in 19 years, I have to do portion control,' said Karen Griffin, who owns Libby’s Diner in Colchester. After rising demand and shrinking supply pushed up the price of maple syrup 49 percent in the past year, she no longer allows customers to pour with abandon.

"The syrup her guests get with pancakes and waffles is the real stuff, not any maple-flavored imitation. Griffin, 58, serves syrup made from tapping maple trees for their sweet sap. Vermont is the top U.S. source, producing 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) last year.

"As the state’s annual harvest gets under way this week, restaurants and shops are paying as much as $70 a gallon for syrup, said Rick Marsh, president of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association. That’s up from about $40 last year, he said."

Apparently there is such a thing -- no kidding -- of "strategic reserves" of the syrup. And although sales of the golden stuff totaled only $13 million in 2007, something tells us that that figure is bound to imporve.