Thursday 8 October 2020

Hop supply problems

The supply of sufficient hops to the brewing industry was a big problem during WW II. Before the war, considerable quantities of hops had been imported. A majority from the USA, but also from Germany, Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

There were fewer imports than before WW I, but the UK didn't produce enough hops in the interwar years to be self-sufficient. Needing to import 30,000 to 40,000 cwts annually. These dried up almost totally after 1940. Making the UK crop a vital resource.

 "Hops Committee.
There had been no meeting of the Hops Committee, but Colonel G. B. Winch, the chairman, reported that an informal meeting with members of the Hops Marketing Board had taken place on the 3rd December, on the subject of the determination of the average price of the 1942 crop. The bulk of the figures upon which this calculation was made had already been agreed, but the Board put forward a request that the extra expenses to which growers had been put in carrying out picking in war circumstances should be taken into account. They had also claimed that the cost of cultivation during the remaining 11 months of the season had been materially enhanced, because growers were forced to rely largely on inefficient labour, and consequently had to employ more people than usual to carry out the necessary work. The basis in the agreed schedule for ascertaining increases or decreases in the cost of production, which was laid down before the war, did not. provide for any adjustment of labour costs except such as arises from increases or decreases in the statutory rates of wages. The Board had been asked to submit figures to support their contentions under these two headings, and these figures were now under examination by the Society’s accountant. As soon as his report was available the Hops Committee would meet to consider the line to be taken at the forthcoming meeting of the Permanent Joint Hops Committee when the average price for the season had to be fixed."
The Brewing Trade Review, January 1943, pages 6 - 7.

Hops were, as pretty much everything else, getting more expensive. No surprise there.  Over the course of the war a cwt. of hops rose from £9 to £21

But there also weren't going top be enough of them:

"The attention of the Council had been drawn at the last meeting to the fact that the 1942 crop was not sufficient to provide a full year’s supply of hops to each brewer, even at the reduction of 20% in pre-war rates per barrel. A large number of brewers had written to the Society stating that the fulfilment of only 80% of their contracts would leave them short of hops, and asking that some of the small balance of the crop which is to be distributed by the Society should be allocated to them. This balance of the crop, however, was only equal to about 3% of the total contracts, and it was obviously impossible to make up every brewer’s shortage in full. The margin of stocks in the hands of any brewer was very narrow when compared with pre-war practice. The figures of each brewer’s stock of hops, his monthly consumption and his standard barrelage level were now under examination by the Society, and taking into account the quantity of hops supplied under his 1942 contract, the date up to which each brewer has enough hops to maintain his present level of output was being worked out. From these figures the average date up to which brewers have Enough hops would be arrived at. Brewers who have not enough hops to last up to that average date would be allocated hops out of the available balance of the crop. It was most unlikely that the average date would work out later than some time in December, 1943, and it might even be earlier than that, basing the figures on the level of output of the last 12 months. If, as seemed possible, there was a reduction in the demand for beer during the coming year this would, of course, ease the position somewhat."
The Brewing Trade Review, January 1943, page 7.

 Reducing hop rates seems to have worked. Because more hops were grown than used in every year of the war. There was a small increase in the acreage dedicated to hops. As you can see in this monster table.


Hops: home production and imports
Year ended 31st Dec. Acreage Estimated Produce Yield per acre Average Price of English Hops per Season, Sept. to Dec. Imports: Less Re-Exports Exports: British Hops Consumption Years ended 30th Sept. following
    Cwts. Cwts. £ s. d. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts.
1914 33,661 507,258 13.84 4 3 9 83,690 9972 450,231
1916 31,352 307,856 9.82 6 14 0 146,150 10,765 263,386
1918 15,666 130,491 8.3 18 15 0 259 6,923 503,140
1920 21,002 281,042 13.4 19 10 0 455,799 3,672 454,258
1921 25,133 224,172 8.9 19 10 0 216,571 2,200 398,506
1922 26,452 301,000 11.4 12 0 0 127,539 2,818 328,688
1923 24,893 229,000 9.2 14 10 0 12,111 22,051 350,428
1924 25,897 444,000 17.1 10 5 0 89,632 44,316 362,554
1925 26,256 355,000 13.5 10 15 0 90,305 44,541 355,376
1926 25,599 332,000 13 11 5 0 35,040 78,574 337,721
1927 23,004 255,000 11.1 12 10 0 96,917 54,630 330,662
1928 23,805 242,100 10.2 11 16 0 66,183 17,651 320,315
1929 23,986 359,100 15 5 0 0 62,208 13,192 307,289
1930 19,997 253,000 12.6 4 15 0 44,199 22,302 277,406
1931 19,628 169,000 8.7 7 5 0 50,303 22,388 219,587
1932 16,531 188,000 11.4 9 15 0 14,952 19,264 222,868
1933 16,895 210,000 12.8 16 10 0 44,829 20,298 233,419
1934 18,037 259,000 14.4 9 0 0 30,046 13,382 248,744
1935 18,251 248,300 13.6 9 0 0 35,186 16,223 258,300
1936 18,317 252,000 13.7 9 0 0 31,953 19,987 270,692
1937 18,093 235,000 13 9 0 0 40,406 16,130 277,846
1938 18,460 257,000 13.9 9 0 0 45,287 12,580 286,716
1939 18,812 288,000 15.3 9 10 0 7,840 16,050 265,512
1940 18,592 270,500 14.5 12 0 0 14,675 26,830 251,354
1941 18,158 262,800 14.5 15 0 0 31 17,209 223,007
1942 18,420 261,900 14.2 17 10 0 2,963 30,673 231,689
1943 19,131 285,200 14.9 18 0 0 198 24,941 243,900
1944 19,603 253,900 13 20 0 0 -- 26,525 244,822
1945 19,957 282,900 14.1 21 0 0 574 32,337 226,197
Source:
1955 Brewers' Almanack, page 63.

 Aren't numbers fun? I'm surprised by how many hops were exported during the war. I'm guessing most went to Ireland.


1 comment:

Mike in NSW said...

May have mentioned it before but I read somewhere that Hallertau was a signature hop in the original Newcastle Brown Ale.