Kicker - A strategic breakfast reserve

MARY REICHARD, HOST: What do you think of when you hear terms like: Global cartel? Federation? Supply and price controls? Strategic reserves?

Nope. We’re not talkin’ OPEC. Not even the flow of spice off the planet Dune. Granted, Dune’s fictional spice can facilitate intergalactic travel, but you can’t top a stack of hot, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with it.

AUDIO: Good things in life never change. “Syrup, please!”

Only maple syrup will do. And it’s in short supply.

Quebec, Canada supplies 73 percent of the world’s sappy sweetness, earning the federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers the not-so-sweet nickname the “Maple Syrup Cartel.”

An abbreviated harvest this year slowed syrups’ flow to market. Making matters worse, all those remote workers in pajamas all day demanded even more!

Maple syrup sales soared by more than 36 percent over last year. That put Canadian producers over a barrel – or, rather, thousands of barrels – and forced the federation to tap into its strategic reserve.

MYRNA BROWN: Did you say “reserve?”

REICHARD: Yes. There is a Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve. And you know what? America imports 63 percent of Canada’s maple syrup production.

BROWN: I’m grateful for that! And pass the syrup.

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

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