The province
held 82 per cent of the world market in 2003, but only 71 per cent last year.
The federation
runs a supply-management system that aimed to restrict production so it could
maintain high prices.
It limited
increased to 30 per cent over the last decade, but now is allowing the increase
to 43 million taps by next year.
"We
allowed those new taps to fulfil the demand and make sure that Quebec is still
producing and being part of the expansion of the market right now," said
SimonTrepanier, head of the federation.
More than 90
per cent of the record 73 million kilograms of maple syrup made in Canada last
year was tapped in Quebec, according to Statistics Canada.
