1. The US conventional mint market is experiencing at least a short-term supply squeeze, with both peppermint and Scotch spearmint rootstock presently in short supply relative to grower demand to plant more mint acreage. This has been evidenced by both feedback from growers who would like to plant more mint this fall, and the relative lack of quality open oil from regions where this has historically not been much of an issue.
  2. Uncertainty about the impact of tariffs, for both mint and for larger scale commodity crops, has left our suppliers with a similar level of unease as many other businesses are experiencing. From a US mint market standpoint, this is most acutely pertinent for Scotch spearmint, which has recently had significant volume input from Canadian producers. The threat of tariffs on Canadian mint has caused a surge in demand for true US Scotch that only time and seeing how it “plays out” will assuage this concern.
  3. Inconsistent input costs across regions (namely equipment, labor, and fuel) have impacted the mint industry, causing relative shortages in some commodities like Yakima peppermint and shifting demand to other regions like Idaho, which then experiences demand surges that may or not be immediately serviceable. Even if short-term, market instability of this sort typically results in farmers being more reluctant to aggressive price offers, at least while market supply and demand equilibrates.

~Matthew Fagerness – Procurement