Changing weather patterns and an increase demand have led to a shortage maple syrup. Worldwide stocks everyone's favourite pancake topping have gone down. This has caused Canada to release 22 million kilograms the sweet, sticky stuff the market. Canada is the world's largest producer maple syrup. The province of Quebec produces almost three-quarters global supply. Canada keeps huge amounts of it emergencies. The syrup it has just released is almost half those emergency reserves. A spokeswoman Quebec's maple syrup producers said there would be no shortages. She said: "That's why the reserve is made....We won't lack maple syrup."
A warmer spring this year has reduced syrup supplies. Maple trees need warm daytime and freezing nighttime temperatures to produce syrup. A warmer and shorter spring led a poorer harvest than usual. Another factor is worldwide demand maple syrup. This has increased more than 20 cent this year. One major reason this rise is the coronavirus pandemic. More people are home, cooking pancakes and waffles. It is possible that more us have developed a sweet tooth. The Quebec spokeswoman said: "The pandemic helped our case because we're seeing people cook more home and use more local products. It's not just Quebec where the demand is increasing."
