Québec’s “Sweet Spot” — A New Maple Syrup Warehouse
Québec Maple Syrup Producers Invest $14 Million in Future of Region and Industry
Québec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP) broke ground in Plessisville this morning on what will become the third warehouse of its Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve. QMSP President Luc Goulet and General Manager Isabelle Lapointe were joined by local representative
Jean-Félipe Nadeau, Arthabaska MNA Éric Lefebvre, regional officials, and the media at a ceremony marking the start of construction.
“This $14 Million investment is in line with a very bright future for the maple industry. We just had a record harvest of 211 million pounds this spring that will allow us to replenish our reserve. The construction of this third warehouse increases our storage capacity in time for the maple syrup to come from millions of new taps soon to join the production stream,” said QMSP President Luc Goulet.
Municipal councillor Jean-Félipe Nadeau (standing in for the mayor of Plessisville) expressed the town’s joy for having a new resident in its Germain-Massicotte industrial park: “I want to thank Québec Maple Syrup Producers for choosing Plessisville as the location for its expanded reserve and making us the World’s Maple Syrup Capital. It’s not only a key part of our cultural identity; it’s a business success story of which we are very proud. Thank you for contributing to the economic vitality of our region, and indeed all of Québec. Best of success to QMSP!”
A Strategy for Success
Established by QMSP in 2000, the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve is a management tool that ensures a constant supply of product to domestic and international markets, no matter the size of any given year’s harvest. This has the effect of stabilizing prices, avoiding the significant variations caused by stock-outs or surpluses. It’s the only one of its kind in the world.
22 years after the first, a third warehouse is being built. It will be the second largest, just after the Laurierville installation which holds up to 55 million pounds of maple syrup in a storage space of 267,000 square feet, the equivalent of five football fields. Pépin Fortin Construction was awarded the contract to build the 104,000 square foot warehouse in Plessisville. Once completed in the spring of 2023, it will boast a capacity of 52 million pounds. The Laurierville warehouse remains the largest, with pasteurization operations and space for unpasteurized syrup and empty barrels. With the third installation in Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, the Strategic Reserve will have a total storage capacity of 133 million pounds (216,000 barrels) of maple syrup.
About Québec Maple Syrup Producers and the Érable du Québec brand
Québec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP) represents the interests of 13,300 maple producers and over 8,000 maple enterprises. Québec accounts for an average 72% of the world’s maple syrup production and exports products to some sixty nations.