Maple syrup thief makes off with $30M worth of the sticky stuff

Your morning breakfast may become a little less sweet thanks to a thief who made off with an estimated $30 million worth of maple syrup in Canada. 

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, the guys responsible for the global strategic maple syrup reserve, initially tried to keep the heist a secret after discovering that 10 million pounds of syrup were stolen from a St-Louis-de-Blandford warehouse. But Quebec, or as the AFP put it "the Saudi Arabia of syrup," couldn't keep it secret for long. 

Serge Beaulieu, head of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, said in a statement to AFP on Wednesday, "The Federation always acts with caution to protect producers' harvests. The St-Louis-de-Blandford warehouse had been secured by a fence and locks, and visited regularly," Beaulieu added, "It is crucial to identify those responsible for this crime." 

Anne-Marie Granger Godbout, executive director of the federation, told the Globe and Mail that the theft should not put the global supply of maple syrup at risk, but did warn that it will undercut legitimate producers. “Obviously those people stole the maple syrup to sell it somewhere. 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 Ottawa Citizen noted that all maple syrup inventories are fully insured and there will be no direct loss to producers.