Why Pure Grade A Maple Syrup Is So Expensive

Once pierced, century-old maple trees drip sap referred to as liquid gold. It will take roughly 50 gallons of these drops to make one 1 gallon of 100% pure Grade A maple syrup. Farms in the Hudson Valley, New York State, can sell that gallon for over $200, almost 29 times more than popular imitation syrup. Despite the price, Grade A maple syrup is incredibly sought-after. So much so that C$18 million worth of it was stolen in one of the largest heists in Canadian history.
But why is Grade A maple syrup worth so much? And why is it so expensive?