Christmas hasn’t exactly been the sweetest time of year for many people in the Yukon and western Canada as a whole this holiday season.

Residents – and grocery stores – have been grappling with a pronounced shortage of sugar – brown and white – in recent months as a strike at the Rogers Sugar Refinery in Vancouver drags on.

At another time of year, the shortage might have gone largely unremarked, but the Christmas season is a different animal.

The shortage has come close to provoking runs on the precious sweet stuff along the lines of COVID-19 hoarding, but that has been staved off by local grocery stores putting hard limits on sales of sugar.

Most stores are limiting customers to one or two bags, and the supply of white sugar has slowly been improving.

Brown sugar, though, remains hard to find.

Mark Wykes, the owner of Wykes Independent Grocer, says the limits have been in place for several weeks.

“It’s (the shortage) isn’t as dire as it was,” Wykes told the Star Thursday afternoon. “It’s still somewhat challenging, though.”

Wykes said the supply of white sugar has improved recently, particularly since the beginning of the month.

Customers have largely taken the situation in stride, he said, having become accustomed to erratic availability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ash Jurovich, the general manager of the Bigway store in the Granger Mall, said much the same thing.

He’s had some challenges dealing with the shortage, but has managed to keep fairly adequate supplies on the shelf.

It’s been a bit of hit and miss, he said, with some days seeing sugar shelves either empty or close to it, and other days being full.

“We put limits on,” he said.

Like Wykes, he said the hangover from the pandemic has likely helped the situation, along with some other shortages of certain products this year, although not as significant as the sugar shortage.

In previous months, Jurovich said, there was a brief shortage of salt, again due to a strike, as well as Coca-Cola products.

Customer reaction has mostly been muted, Jurovich added. There was a bit more concern being expressed in late November and early December.

That’s when most people lay in their supplies for a spurt of holiday baking, he said, and pressure eases closer to Christmas.

Still, the subject has gone fairly viral on Yukon social media.

About a week ago, one person was advertising two-kilogram bags of white sugar for sale after a trip to Alberta.

The offer provoked some colourful responses.

“A sugar cartel ... love it!” wrote one person on Facebook.

“That is nuts! You can get them in Ontario for $2.99. Thus country has lost its humanity!” wrote another.

A third was not exactly complimentary.

“Nice – exploit people freely because here in a territory you can sell groceries without a licence. Hilarious.”

Other people have been advocating sugar substitutes, such as maple syrup, in their festive baking creations.