Beers and Hops, a summary of the year 2020
This is an extremely condensed version, inevitably biased towards what interests us most 😉
If you wish to delve deeper into certain aspects, we invite you to download and consult the original report available here (in English).
In summary: the year was not as terrible as expected, BUT there is strong vigilance regarding climate change on the one hand and market developments on the other, which means that producers will very likely limit cultivated areas.
Another point: apart from the “France” section (hooray!), there’s absolutely no mention of organic hops in this report. Yet we know that organic hops are grown (increasingly so, in fact) in these various countries… We’ll let you draw your own conclusions!
Beer production
Globally, beer production fell from 1.912 Mhl in 2019 to 1820 Mhl in 2020, a drop of 4.9%.
Countries where beer production increased in 2020:
- Russia
- Romania
- Mexico
- Canada
- Cameroon
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Tanzania
- Mozambique
- Ivory Coast
- Ghana
- Gabon
- Madagascar
- Benign
- Malawi
- Togo
- Guinea Conakry
- Mali
- Liberia
- Australia
- South Korea
- Cambodia
- Kazakhstan
- Laos
The drop in beer production – due to the COVID-19 pandemic – was less significant than anticipated. In October 2020, experts expected the decrease to be between 8 and 14%, but it ultimately amounted to “only” 5% globally.
This drop is mainly due to lockdowns which saw restaurants/social venues/tourism businesses closed, even though they represent a good third of global beer consumption.
The 5 leading countries in terms of beer production volume remain: China, the USA, Brazil, Mexico and Germany.
Hop production
Globally, hop production fell from 129,479 MTonnes in 2019 to 122,003 MTonnes in 2020, representing a decrease of 5.8% in volume.
If we combine a 1.3% increase in cultivated areas with an average 7% drop in yields, global hop production was almost 6% lower than in 2019.
Producing countries
Global hop production: 122,003 MTonnes
Cultivated area: 62,366 ha
Regarding the two largest global producers of hops, the USA is ahead of Germany by 4000ha of cultivated area.
The average farm size in the countries we work with:
- Germany: 18.5 ha/producer
- UK: 15ha/producer
- Slovenia: 13ha/producer
- USA: 330ha/producer (no, that’s not a typo!)
- France (for information): 10ha/producer
Climate change
It is important to note that BOTH yields per hectare AND Alpha Acid concentrations of hops were down in 2020, precisely because of climatic conditions.
These uncertainties will continue to weigh on all activities (hop production, distribution, beer production, etc.) and must be closely monitored.
Sources:
