Tropentag, September 17 - 19, 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic "Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources"

Problems and Development Potential of Hop Production in Russia

¹University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan, Dept. of Agriculture, Germany
²Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Hop Research Centre, Germany

Abstract

In the last twelve years the hops area in Russia declined by approximately 1,400 ha, although the beer production developed more and more. In 2012 Russia had a beer output of around 97.4 million hectoliters and occupied the fourth place among the beer producing countries. Each year about nine thousand tons of hops are used for the beer production.
The aim of this work is presenting the status and development options of hop production in Russia on the basis of the Chuvash Republic. Chuvashia is climatically very suitable for the cultivation of hop (Humulus).
Research data were used from the Chuvash State Agricultural Research Institute as well as market reports of the company Barth-Haas Group. Descriptive analysis of hop price, beer production and hop-growing areas in Russia and around the world were used as evaluation method. The quality analysis of seven hops clones from Chuvashia was conducted in the laboratory according to EBC-methods in Hull Hop Research Centre in Bavaria.
The market analyses showed that Russia has the highest beer output in Europe. However the main hop-growing region Chuvashia has lost a large market share of hops. The reason is the importation of hops with better quality and larger diversity. The results of hop price analysis showed that the hop market has large fluctuations.
For the economic evaluation of contribution margin calculations were made for baby hops and hops in full yield. From the perspective of the production costs of hop production is profitable in Chuvashia. The analysis of hops clones showed that the Russian hop in terms of alpha acid content is competitive except for the hop oil content with other hop providers. It would be advisable to breed new varieties with higher hop oil content.
Consequently the hop providers must care more about the hop quality and the processing of different hop products, because this is the crucial point, whether the Russian breweries will buy domestic hops.

Keywords: Beer production, hop market, hop products, hop quality, investment

Contact Address: Ralf Schlauderer, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan, Dept. of Agriculture, Steingruberstraße 1a, 91746 Weidenbach, Germany, e-mail: ralf.schlaudererhswt.de