Friday 5 July 2013

World hop production 1896 - 1909

The table craziness continues. I'm not sure why, but I seem to be regaling you with table after table currently. Blame my mania for collecting statistics. And Stan Hieronymous. He pointed me in the direction of this set.

In the period covered by this table, world hop production was dominated by four regions: the German Empire, Bohemia, the UK and America (not sure if it's just the USA of if Canada is also included). As the second table makes more clear, between 80% and 90% of the world's hops were produced in these regions. ANd in the German Empire, more than 50% of the hops were grown in Bavaria.

I'm going to have to dig out my Brauwelt Breviers and Statistical Handbooks because I'm sure they have recent figures on hop production. I'm pretty sure that the overall picture is similar but for one thing: the UK's share. While Bohemia, Bavaria and the USA remain major players in hop growing, the British industry has seen a steep decline in the last couple of decades. I really should dig out the numbers to show just how catastrophic a collapse there's been.


World hop production 1896 - 1909
Country Area of production (hectares) Estimated production (thousands of 50 kg)
1908 1909 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
Bavaria 22,952 18,634 275 208 262 298 225 110 272 260 239 325 250 263 307 86
Württemberg 4,967 3,783 73 67 69 107 78 54 68 66 70 87 52 61 68 12
Baden 1,664 1,308 48 34 30 48 29 25 35 28 35 38 31 29 35 2
Alsace-Lorraine 4,564 4,131 85 75 63 83 77 55 65 70 79 125 72 95 104 12
Prussia and the rest of Germany 1,684 1,108 29 29 12 45 24 25 26 25 19 32 17 22 22 7
German Empire 35,831 28,964 510 473 436 581 433 269 466 449 442 607 422 470 536 119
France 3,030 2,800 63 72 61 79 72 64 50 57 51 71 75 79 80 27
Bohemia 17,280 15,420 185 117 150 195 155 282 133 65 128 293 103 236 284 104
Oberösterreich 849 849 7 4
Styria 4,395 3,252 25 22
Galicia 2,585 2,548 45 45 36 59 58 64 51 48 52 68 71 82 18 14
Moravia, Karinthia 607 512 10 5
Hungary, Transylvania 1,154 1,154 15 15
Belgium and Holland 2,341 1,922 88 70 25 103 52 80 65 83 103 107 45 55 78 29
Russia and other districts 10,160 8,412 128 120 64 80 80 80 60 60 40 100 55 80 75 60
Continental Europe 78,232 65,833 1019 897 772 1097 850 839 825 712 816 1246 771 1002 1128 399
UK 15,762 13,179 453 417 302 661 353 640 311 480 290 707 249 380 475 205
Europe 93,994 79,012 1472 1314 1134 1758 1203 1479 1136 1142 1106 1053 1020 1382 1603 604
America 20,251 17,659 309 344 339 380 329 332 360 402 435 504 571 520 410 310
Australia 861 750 14 15 13 15 16 15 15 14 14 15 15 14 14 10
World 115,106 97,421 1795 1673 1486 2153 1548 1826 1511 1558 1555 2472 1606 1916 2027 924
Source:
Barth Report 1910
http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/images/pdfs/Lupulo%201909-1910.pdf



World hop production 1896 - 1909 in % share
1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
Bavaria 15.32% 12.43% 17.63% 13.84% 14.53% 6.02% 18.00% 16.69% 15.37% 13.15% 15.57% 13.73% 15.15% 9.31%
German Empire 28.41% 28.27% 29.34% 26.99% 27.97% 14.73% 30.84% 28.82% 28.42% 24.56% 26.28% 24.53% 26.44% 12.88%
Bohemia 10.31% 6.99% 10.09% 9.06% 10.01% 15.44% 8.80% 4.17% 8.23% 11.85% 6.41% 12.32% 14.01% 11.26%
UK 25.24% 24.93% 20.32% 30.70% 22.80% 35.05% 20.58% 30.81% 18.65% 28.60% 15.50% 19.83% 23.43% 22.19%
America 17.21% 20.56% 22.81% 17.65% 21.25% 18.18% 23.83% 25.80% 27.97% 20.39% 35.55% 27.14% 20.23% 33.55%
total 81.17% 80.75% 82.57% 84.39% 82.04% 83.41% 84.05% 89.60% 83.28% 85.40% 83.75% 83.82% 84.11% 79.87%
Source:
Barth Report 1910
http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/images/pdfs/Lupulo%201909-1910.pdf
 




The numbers also show the volataility in hop production, with large differences from year to year. In the best year in this set, 1905, output was almost 2.5 times that of the worst year, 1909. You have to suspect something climatic, as the poor harvest seems to only apply to Europe in that year.


Hang on, I do have the 1953 numbers to hand. Let's compare 1908 and 1953. Should be fun. (I'm using 1908 because 1909 was a particularly poor year in Europe.)


Hop production 1909 - 1953 (kg)
Country 1908 % 1953  %
USA 20,500,000 20.23% 18,938,426 31.52%
United Kingdom 23,750,000 23.43% 13,513,440 22.49%
Czechoslovakia 14,200,000 14.01% 4,999,973 8.32%
Germany 26,800,000 26.44% 14,250,075 23.72%
France 4,000,000 3.95% 2,449,844 4.08%
Belgium 3,900,000 3.85% 974,339 1.62%
Australia 700,000 0.69% 1,422,467 2.37%
World Total 101,350,000 60,081,618
Sources:
Barth Report 1910
1955 Brewers' Almanack, page 65.

You can see that hop production fell everywhere except Australia. The UK's share of world production stayed much the same, at around 23%. Germany's share fell a little and the USA's increased a little. But the four largest producers are exactly the same as in 1908. Why had hop production fallen? Because demand for hops had, particluarly in the UK. The drop in beer gravity and the move to less hoppy beer caused a huge fall in the quantity of hops required. It must have had a big impact on the world market, as the UK had been using a considerable proportion of the world's hops.

4 comments:

Alan said...

Is there an argument that after WWII the effects of the wartime Ministry of Food's control of land use was still being felt, that hop fields were converted to other foods when needed and that imposed change continued due to being more profitable or just less costly than the expense of reinstating hop production?

Ron Pattinson said...

Alan,

UK hop production in 1945 was the same as in 1939. Though the acres growing hops increased slightly over the same period. Between 1945 and 1952 the area growing hops rose from 20,000 acres to 22,000.

Gary Gillman said...

I think overall it makes sense, since later 1800's more present-use beer (of all kinds including lager), more refrigeration, better stability through yeast selection and sterile controls, therefore less hops needed or less than there might have been when overall population increase is factored (not sure of effect of WW II) here.

Gary

Rob said...

2010:

Germany 34,249 metric tonnes
USA 23,701
China 10,000
Czech 7,800
Poland 2,593
Slovenia 2,073
North Korea 1,900
UK 1,500

From wikipedia and I couldnt figure out their source, so take with a grain of salt or a gose.