British hop imports in the 20th century

It's one of those special treat days. Where, as a reward for being good, I give you a bug, fat, juicy table. Several tables, in fact

The tables in question have details of the hops grown, imported, exported and used in the UK from 1857 to 1954. So almost 100 years' worth of hoppy fun.

One of the drums I particularly like to bang is about Britain's dependence on foreign hops in the second half of the 19th century. You can see it clearly in the table. Between 1870 and 1900 Britain imported 100,00-200,000 cwts. of hops each year and accounting for probably about a third of the hops used.

I'd expected that. What I hadn't foreseen was how steeply imports fell off after WW I. By 1924 they were at about half the level of  1900. By the 1930's, hop imports had halved again, averaging about 37,000 cwts. a year 1930 to 1938. That's quite a turnaround.

WW II basically brought imports to a halt, and though there was a small boom in 1946, after 1949 the quantities imported were minimal.

This table shows how the use of foreign hops declined:

Percentage of imported hops used
year	% of hops used in UK	year	% of hops used in UK	year	% of hops used in UK	year	% of hops used in UK
1920	100.34%	1930	15.93%	1940	5.84%	1950	0.12%
1921	54.35%	1931	22.91%	1941	0.01%	1951	0.27%
1922	38.80%	1932	6.71%	1942	1.28%	1952	0.22%
1923	3.46%	1933	19.21%	1943	0.08%	1953	0.47%
1924	24.72%	1934	12.08%	1944	0.00%	1954	1.41%
1925	25.41%	1935	13.62%	1945	0.25%
1926	10.38%	1936	11.80%	1946	13.43%
1927	29.31%	1937	14.54%	1947	3.33%
1928	20.66%	1938	15.80%	1948	1.96%
1929	20.24%	1939	2.95%	1949	0.39%
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 63.
1971 Brewers'Almanack, page 54
1928 Brewers' Almanack, page 119

The reason for the fall in imports can be explained very simply: the gravity drop caused by WW I. The weaker beer produced after the war required fewer hops. As the level of UK production had remained relatively unchanged, for the first time in many decades Britain was almost self-sufficent in hops.

It's interesting that, despite all the upheavals of two world wars, British hop production was relatively stable between 1890 and 1850. As this table demonstrates:

Average annual UK hop production
years	cwt.
1890	283,629
1900	347,894
1910	302,675
1920 - 1929	302,241
1930 - 1939	235,930
1946 - 1947	284,797
Sources:
1928 Brewers' Almanack, page 119
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 63.

The main table also shows the volatility of the price of hops. The price could change by 100% or more from one season to the next. For example, 1928 to 1929, 1932 to 1934 and 1933 to 1934.

Hop exports increased significantly after WW I, but nmuch of this is explained by Irish independence. After 1923 hops shipped to the Republic of Ireland Irish Free State were counetd as exports. In the years 1923 to 1925 this acoounts for most of the hops exported.
 

Hops: home production and imports 1857 - 1954
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.
1857	50,974	426,049	8.35	4 2 8	18,711
1860	46,271	99,667	2.15	17 5 0	68,918
1870	60,594	700,000	11.55	3 7 8	127,853	3,365
1880	66,698	440,000	6.60	4 6 0	195,987	7,218
1890	53,961	283,629	5.26	10 9 4	181,698	6,164
1900	51,308	347,894	6.78	5 18 8	198,494	14,999
1910	32,886	302,675	9.20	5 6 6	172,032	8,927
1914	33,661	507,258	13.84	4 3 9	83,690	9972	450,231
1915	34,744	254,101	7.31	6 7 0	199,347	8,288
1916	31,352	307,856	9.82	6 14 0	146,150	10,765	263,386
1917	16,946	225,763	13.32	8 15 0	8,530	12,796
1918	15,666	130,491	8.3	18 15 0	259	6,923	503,140
1919	16,745	187,795	11.21	20 5 0	154,091	2,606
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
1946	21,163	257,451	13.4	22 10 0	29,243	35,056	217,759
1947	22,142	289,908	13.2	23 10 0	7,716	31,661	231,470
1948	22,787	273,584	12	25 15 0	4,561	29,135	233,168
1949	22,196	250,406	11.3	26 10 0	900	42,301	232,979
1950	22,198	368,313	16.6	21 0 0	269	84,027	229,106
1951	22,460	321,824	14.3	26 0 0	626	107,738	228,512
1952	22,279	282,349	12.7	28 3 0	502	76,620	225,569
1953	21,932	272,593	12.3	27 10 0	1,015	64,762	216,841
1954	20,760	246,748	11.9	29 0 0	3,075	51,323	217,716
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 63.
1928 Brewers' Almanack, page 119, 1971 Brewers'Almanack, page 54