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Millions of dollars in maple syrup stolen
Talk about sticky-fingered thieves. They've struck in Quebec, snatching millions of dollars worth of maple syrup from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, between Montreal and Quebec City.
Up to 10 million pounds of syrup was in the warehouse, according to a statement from the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which bills itself as keeper of the global strategic maple syrup reserve.
Officials could not say exactly how much of the product was stolen, but a Quebec police official told The Globe and Mail it was a substantial quantity.
“We know that it’s millions of dollars that was stolen,” Sgt. Richard Gagné is quoted as saying. “It’s a very large amount.”
The 10 million pounds of syrup that was in the warehouse is worth more than $30 million, according to the federation statement.
The theft was discovered during a routine inventory check of the warehouse, which "had been secured by a fence and locks, and visited regularly," federation president Serge Beaulieu said in the statement.
The barrels that originally contained the syrup were empty, meaning it was somehow transferred to some other kind of containers to complete the theft, the federation said.
The warehouse where the theft occurred was being used to temporarily store the sweet stuff while a new facility was being prepared.
As much as 80% of the world's maple syrup comes from Quebec, the federation said.
Though the federation is insured for the loss, if the stolen syrup makes its way onto the market, it could hurt the group's 10,000 members.
"The marketing of the stolen maple syrup will affect the entire maple industry. It is crucial to identify those responsible for this crime," the statement said.
“Obviously those people stole the maple syrup to sell it somewhere,” federation director Anne-Marie Granger Godbout told The Globe and Mail. “If it’s a big volume, it could be very harmful for the maple syrup industry. The companies that are working in this industry will have to compete with some company that didn’t pay for the maple syrup.”
The federation said the theft shouldn't affect supplies available to the public.
"The sales agency's maple syrup inventory is spread across several storage locations which were not subject to theft," Beaulieu said in the statement.
The amount in the warehouse represents about one-10th of Quebec's 2012 harvest and more than 25% of the federation's stock, CNN affiliate CBC reported.
30 million dollars worth! whoa. I'd be happy with 1 million.
10,000,000# of maple syrup would require something on the order of 200+ tanker trucks to transport. How on earth could something like that go unnoticed?
Mafia hard at work.
Poorly written article. Not all of it was stolen, only a portion.
Ahh, so they admit the group of producers act as an oligopoly to keep the product over priced. It's just like the peanup production in the US then, which keeps a product like peanut butter exhorbantly overpriced. Good thing Congress is watching out for us by protecting the price of simple staples.
They don't admit or hint at that in the slightest. The point is that someone who is selling a product they didn't pay for can do so at any price they like – this harms the producers that, you know, have expenses to recover.
I didn't know you could get maple syrup insurance. I better call my All-State agent.
Unfortunately, most of us don't think of maple syrup by the pound.
One pound of maple syrup is about 3/4 of a pint, about 1 1/2 cups.
10 million pounds is about 900,000 gallons.
The minimum volume of an Olympic swimming pool is about 660,000 gallons. So, the stolen syrup would fill one and one-half Olympic pools.
The largest tanker trucks that you see on American highways are 9000 gallons. So, we are talking about 1,000 of those trucks worth of syrup.
Actually, only a hundred tanker trucks. Sorry for the error.
But the point you can see is that this was not an easy or quick theft.
Weight vs. volume, you might fit 9,000 gal of maple syrup in a tanker, however you will be on the order of 2x the weight capacity. Figure on more like 50,000# of syrup in a typical 80,000# gross tractor-trailer combination.
The idea of an Olympic sized pool filled with maple syrup, just leaves me with a sticky feeling all over.
sounds like a job for Banacek!
Sounds like they never had it in the first place....
they didnt say it was all stolen. But it's seriously over priced right now. So maybe this can lower the overall price enough to create a product worth buying.
Someone has sticky fingers!
Someone is quoting the article!
Someone did not even read this idiotic article.
It's an obvious go to statement considering the pilfering of sap.
I wonder if Oprah stopped by for a snack?
I suspect , Mrs. Butterworth, in the Warehouse, with a Oil Tanker.
The maple trees are the real victims here... they have been bleeding them dry since the rise of man. Time to take back the forests!
Plus they treat them like slaves. The trees don't get to go anywhere or even get paid.
They don't even take them out to diner!
Aliens use it for fuel in their time-traveling spaceships. It powers the flux capacitor via Mr. Fusion. Most efficient and renewable fuel ever!
On a side note, does anyone want to buy some Maple Syrup? I have tons I no longer need.
"global strategic maple syrup reserve"??? are they for real? This HAS to be a joke.
I wonder if they would need Presidential approval to use any of it..... asking only in times of war though.
It's CANADA!
No joke, Mr. Hand..... The money in this business is sweet, very sweet (no pun intended).
Hey Josh, no president here, eh ? Just a P.M. and some eskimos.
"So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw"
yeah, dumb, but it just made me think of that.
I thought I was the only one on here quoting Rush.