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Canadian maple syrup production hits record high in 2022: StatCan

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Canada's maple syrup producers had a record harvest this year, pulling in 79.1 million litres of the sweet stuff, a recent report from Statistics Canada shows.

This year's harvest represents a 53.8 per cent increase from 2021 and is the highest yield on record, dating back to at least 2008.

"Production was up across all maple-producing provinces largely because of favourable weather conditions and continued expansions in the industry," the report, released on Dec. 14, says.

"Higher yields in 2022 followed the previous year's lower production brought on by a short maple season attributable to warm spring temperatures in 2021."

StatCan reports maple production in imperial gallons, which in 2022 rose to 17.4 million across Canada.

Quebec harvested more than 91 per cent of the country's maple syrup, producing 72.3 million litres or 15.9 million gallons, a 59.1 per cent increase from 2021 and a new record high for the province, StatCan says.

Producers in New Brunswick reported a 3.2 per cent increase to their maple harvest in 2022, producing about 3.7 million litres or 810.9 thousand gallons, which StatCan attributes to new tappings and a growing industry.

New Brunswick reported the second most maple taps in the country in 2021 at 3.5 million, a StatCan report this past summer found.

The report says farms in the province had the highest rate of taps per farm on average in the country at 18,744, far greater than the national average of 4,735.

Ontario, the third largest producer of maple in Canada, also saw historic high yields in the northern parts of the province, which contributed to a 27.7 per cent rise in production to 2.7 million litres or 589.8 thousand gallons.

Canadian producers exported close to 38.6 million litres or 8.5 million gallons of maple products in the first three-quarters of this year, a 3.4 per cent decrease from record-high exports over the same period last year, StatCan says.

A 2020 report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada found the country accounts for approximately three-quarters of the world's maple syrup production, followed by the United States.

The record harvest comes after the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers accessed its strategic reserve last year in order to meet domestic and export demand.

Located at the Laurierville plant and warehouse about 200 kilometres northeast of Montreal, the massive reserve can hold 94,000 barrels of maple syrup, each containing 205 litres.

StatCan says increased production in the province allowed the federation to replenish the reserve.

In June 2021, Quebec Maple Syrup Producers also announced that it would issue seven million new taps for startup and expansion projects, bringing the total number in production to nearly 57 million by 2024.

With files from CTVNews.ca

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