Washington Hop Harvest Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. The Washington hops crop is in and it appears to have been a pretty good year for growers, not record breaking, but about average which is a good thing.The Washington Hop Commission's Jaki Brophy says after a few years of pretty steady growth in demand, things look to be leveling off somewhat ...
BROPHY-4 = 23 ... "The stocks report, which is something that we also keep a close eye on, it was the September 1 crop report released by USDA-NASS, and basically it lets us know what was left over from the prior year's harvest, for all intents and purposes, and it shows we're increasing a little bit on that in volume, but it's actually decreased a little bit in overall usage of the crop itself."
But, Brophy says, there is still a surplus ...
BROPHY ... "We do see that there's a little bit left over, which is always nice. We've got that cushion, but it looks like things are actually starting to slow down a little bit in the states now, but we are seeing growth starting to accelerate a little bit overseas and in a lot of different international markets."
And, what percentage of our hops area exported ...
BROPHY ... "You know, that does fluctuate year to year, but I'd say on average we export about 60 percent of the crop."
The explosive growth of craft and specialty brewers has led to, or been led by, an increase in hop and beer lovers.
Thanks to the Northwest's favorable climate, fertile soils, and water availability, over 70% of all North American hops are grown in Washington state, 15% in Oregon, and 11% in Idaho.