BarthHaas, the world’s largest supplier of hop products and services, publish an annual report that provides timely statistics on the global hop industry. With each we gain an insight into the latest agronomic and economic trends. As the Australian representative of the group, we are proud to share the BarthHaas 2019/2020 Hop Report with our brewing customers.
The past year has seen its fair share of historic events. It has been rough, but it is not all bad news. World beer production continued to climb. More than half the world beer volume is brewed by China, US, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. Australia is currently ranked 28 with a beer volume output of 16,100,000 hectolitres.
Hop production also continued to climb. The main contributors to this result were the US and Germany, with smaller contributions from Poland, New Zealand and Australia. However, more than three quarters of the world hop production is currently grown in the US and Germany. Overall, there was a slight fall in the production of aroma hops to 59% of global yield, and a slight increase in the production of alpha hops to 41% of global yield. Australia’s hop production grew to 1,648 metric tonnes in 2020, which was almost entirely aroma hops.
The global 2020 crop is expected to meet reduced demand, which could be noticeable for years to come depending on the duration of the global pandemic. It is possible that beer production might decrease by 8 to 14% year on year as a result of COVID-19. Craft breweries are suffering disproportionately because of the large number who depend on selling beer on site. The hop industry will need to work side-by-side with the brewing industry to restore the balance of hop supply and demand in future years.
