This is an ultra-condensed version, necessarily biased by what interests us most 😉
If you wish to dig deeper into certain aspects, we invite you to download and consult the original report available here (in English).
To sum up: the year was not as bad as one might have expected, BUT there is a strong focus on climate change on the one hand and on market developments on the other, which means that producers will most certainly restrict the area cultivated.
Apart from the "France" section (cocorico!!), there's no mention of organic hops in this report. And yet we know that there are Organic Hops (more and more, in fact) in these various countries... We leave you to conclude what you wish!
Beer production
Globally, beer production has fallen 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 Congo
- Tanzania
- Mozambique
- Ivory Coast
- Ghana
- Gabon
- Madagascar
- Benin
- Malawi
- Togo
- Guinea Conakry
- Mali
- Liberia
- Australia
- South Korea
- Cambodia
- Kazakhstan
- Laos
The drop in beer production - due to the COVID-19 epidemic - was smaller than expected. In October 2020, experts expected the drop to be between 8 and 14%, but in the end it was "only" 5% worldwide.
This fall is due in particular to the confinements that have seen the closure of the restaurant/convenience/tourist establishments, which account for a good third of world beer consumption.
The five leading countries in terms of beer production volume remain: China, USA, Brazil, Mexico and Germany.
Hop production
Worldwide, hop production has fallen from 129,479 MTonnes in 2019 to 122,003 MTonnes in 2020, a decrease of 5.8% in volume.
Combining 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
World hop production: 122,003MTonnes
Cultivated area: 62,366 ha
Of the world's two largest hop producers, the USA is 4,000 ha ahead of Germany in cultivated area.
The average farm size in the countries we work with :
- Germany: 18.5ha/producer
- UK: 15ha/producer
- Slovenia: 13ha/producer
- USA: 330ha/producer (no, no, this is not a typo!)
- France (for info): 10ha/producer
Climate change
It is important to note that BOTH the yields per hectare AND the Alpha Acid concentrations of the hops were down in 2020, precisely because of the weather conditions.
These uncertainties will continue to affect all activities (hop production, distribution, beer production, etc.) and must be monitored closely.
Sources :