MERRILL, Wisc.—Sugarmakers in the U.S. are closing out their seasons in most locations, and crop sizes are coming in about average or better.

"It's looking pretty decent," said Joel Oelke, a sugarmaker in Merrill, Wisc. and a rep for Leader H2O. "If the weather holds out we should be at a full crop in about a week."

Bulk prices at some locations in the Northeast have already risen slightly, according to some sugarmakers who have recently sold syrup.

Official prices from the big packers have not been officially announced yet.

In the Northeast, sugarmakers were enjoying mostly decent crops.

Don Russell in Rome, Pa. said his crop size came in a little lower than hoped, but still about average, and the syrup grades ran toward dark.

"We had darker color than normal," he told The Maple News this week.

In western New York, sugarmaker Joe Mullet in Whitesville, N.Y. had a good season, and was expecting to pull taps this weekend.

"We had a real good season, about a quart per tap," he said. "We made 3300 gallons on 9600 taps. Our neighbors did well too."

Southern and middle Ohio producers said they did very well.

"We got a big run the last week of February and first week of March it really ran hard," said Eli Weaver of Weaver's Maple in Fredericksburg, Ohio.

Weaver had a banner year, making 1056 gallons off of 2,600 taps.

"Most people in Holmes County had good season," Weaver told The Maple News.

Meanwhile, John Weaver in Orwell, Ohio said his season, and for most of his neighbors, was a bust.

"The soft maples on bags just didn't do very well," he told The Maple News.

In Michigan, producers were doing so-so.

"It's a medium season," said Carlton Miller in Ludington, Mich.. "It's been average. Nothing crazy. Not as much as ups and downs as we need. Not enough fluctuation to keep it rolling."

Meanwhile, in some areas around the Mackinaw Bridge, a big ice storm had devastated some maple operations, with some estimates of 100,000 maple trees damaged.

In Northern Vermont, it was slow going at first, with piles of snow and cold temperatures. But things are catching up.

Northern U.S. producers typically make more syrup in April than they do in March anyway.

Steve Wheeler of Derby, Vt. wasn't too worried.

"So far so good," he told The Maple News on this week. "We're at half a crop. We had a strong start and it's still up in the air as to where it's headed."