Chairman of Copa and Cogecas’ Hops Working Party Bernard Ingwiller has confirmed in Brussels a very good EU hops harvest in 2016 in terms of both volume and quality, compared to 2015, as well as better demand across the globe.
Speaking after the Working Party met in Brussels, Mr Bernard Ingwiller from France said “We had a very good year for hops in 2016, with EU production reaching a total of 59 million tonnes and covering an area of around 29 ha which is up on levels seen in 2015. The quality was also high”.
In particular, Germany – by far the biggest producer in the EU – had an excellent harvest reaching 42,700 MT compared to 28,337 MT in 2015, which is well above the average. A 50% increase in yields and 80% increase in alpha-acid was also seen compared to 2015. Main varieties were Herkules and Amarillo. In the Czech Republic – the second largest producer in the EU – production totaled 7,100 MT compared to 4,843 MT in 2015, thanks to good weather conditions. A positive year was also seen in Poland which saw a 9% increase in the area sown to reach 1,534 ha and 2557 MT. In Slovenia, production amounted to 2,476 MT compared to 1,677 MT in 2015 while in the UK, production totaled 1,450 MT compared to 1,357 in 2015. In Spain, a slight production fall was seen to reach 940 MT in 2016. Finally, the French harvest was better than expected standing at 772 MT with high quality.
“Globally speaking, production was very good totaling some 107,203 MT and covering an area of 54,510 ha. Production in the USA stood at 40,196 MT placing the United States as the world’s second largest producer. There was generally more demand for hops across the globe, however, demand for aroma varieties is still higher than for the bitter (alpha) varieties”, he concluded.
