Sugar shortage hits northern grocers — and holiday bakers

Some northern shoppers are doing a double take in the baking aisle these days. 

Where the sugar should be, there are empty or near-empty shelves. 

"We're really starting to notice it," said Mark Wykes, owner and operator of Wykes' Your Independent Grocer in Whitehorse. "And going into baking season, people are looking for it, it's on their list and they're seeing an empty shelf."

After a two-month strike at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver, supply is dwindling. 

And it's not just at Wykes' — many Whitehorse grocery stores shelves are bare or nearly bare. It's the same situation in Yellowknife.

"Brown sugars are not being produced at all, so that's a really big issue if that's a part of your recipes for grandma's cookies, you might have a problem," Wykes told CBC News. 

The Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver is one of only three large sugar refineries in the country that processes imported cane sugar. The interruption in production is now affecting the supply chain and availability of sugar in western and northern Canada. 

Wykes says some white sugar is still expected to arrive on trucks coming north. He hopes bakers fortunate enough to purchase some will be generous and share with friends and neighbours, should someone come knocking with a measuring cup in hand. 

Jennifer Dagg, shopping at Wykes', said she wasn't aware of the strike but she did notice the shortage.

"I just was searching for some sugar right now and saw the empty shelf — so I guess we won't be doing baking as we had planned," Dagg said. She's hoping to make what's left of her sugar supply stretch. 

Another shopper, Marcel Barbant, checked multiple stores in Whitehorse on his hunt for holiday ingredients.

"They don't have sugar either," he said. "Brown sugar for Christmas, you know — cookies, cinnamon buns, that kind of stuff. I guess I'm not making cinnamon buns," said Barbant. 

Late last week, Rogers Sugar Inc. said it asked for mediation to help bring an end to an eight-week-long strike at its Vancouver refinery where 138 workers have been off the job since Sept. 28. 

It's unclear what might come of the attempts at mediation with Rogers Sugar and its workers. Even if production were to begin soon, there's no word on how long the supply chain might take to replenish shelves to a more normal level in the north.