Russia: Overview of hop market situation in Russia

With 8 hop-growing cooperatives discontinuing hop production, only 78 hop farms remained in crop year 2004. The average hop acreage farmed by each production cooperative fell from 7.3 ha to 7.1 ha , according to the Barth Report of June 2005.

The hop acreage declined by 12%. The average yield for the aroma varieties rose slightly year on year, while the bitter varieties produced a significantly better yield. The predominantly grown aroma variety Ranny yielded an alpha content of 3.8%, well below the yield produced in 2003 (4.2%). The bitter varieties Smolisty, Podvyazny, and Istrinsky were on a par with the previous year, averaging 5.6%

At the end of April 2005, it was reported that 30 mt from the 2004 crop remained unsold. A reduction in acreage of about 10% to approx. 500 ha is expected for 2005.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .