Quebec’s maple syrup reserve is empty, producers say

MONTREAL: Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve has been drawn down to zero after a surge in demand, the head of the province’s producers’ association said in October.

“Our strategic reserve has been reduced to zero,” Luc Goulet, president of Québec Maple Syrup Producers, said in an interview at the release of an industry report on its economic benefits, The Canadian Press reported Oct. 19.

The association built the reserve to keep prices and supply relatively stable when weather affects sap flow. Goulet said U.S. commercial buyers stocked up last year, fearing tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump, and sales have kept rising.

With the buffer gone, Goulet said, the industry could lose customers if a poor sap season follows. He pointed to the shortages of 2007 and 2008. “We lost some markets because the product wasn’t available,” he said, adding that consumers quickly turn to other sweeteners and the habit sticks.

Louis Turenne, president of the Maple Industry Council, which represents authorized buyers, said Quebec syrup is gaining market share abroad. Exports rose 9.34 per cent in 2024 and 15.8 per cent in 2025. They grew a slower 2.48 per cent from January through August 2026, compared with the same period a year earlier. “It’s always hard to beat an exceptional year,” Turenne said.

Nearly 65 per cent of exports go to the United States, down from about 80 per cent two decades ago, Turenne said. He said the industry needs to open more European, Australian and Asian markets.

The industry report said Quebec produces more than 70 per cent of North American maple syrup. Including processing and equipment makers, the sector contributed $1.21 billion to gross domestic product in 2025, employs more than 10,000 full-time equivalent workers and generated $285 million in tax revenue, excluding municipal taxes and public-land lease fees.

Goulet said investment from Quebec City is “too low for our liking” and said he hopes to have the ear of the newly elected Parti Québécois government. Turenne said the province could encourage more production through financial support for producers and help for processors seeking new markets.

The Parti Québécois government has not publicly responded to the producers’ request in the reporting we reviewed. For more on the new government’s agenda, see our reports on the premier’s planned meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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Source: The Canadian Press, first published Oct. 19, 2026.