Japan: Major brewers offering financial and technological support to boost domestic hops production

Major Japanese brewers are offering financial and technological support to domestic hop farmers so they can increase production of hops, a primary beer ingredient that determines flavor and bitterness, The Japan News reported on September 29.

With imported hops accounting for about 90 percent of hops used in beer production in Japan, the brewers aim to make greater use of domestically grown fresh hops that can be used for their products soon after harvesting.

Workers were cutting hop plants off from 5-meter-tall trellises in late August at a farm in Tono in Iwate Prefecture, the country’s leading hop-producing prefecture.

At a processing facility, hop flowers are separated from vines and dried. They are then shipped to beer makers.

According to data from Japan’s agriculture ministry, annual domestic production of hops topped 2,000 tons in the 1970s. But the amount has plunged to some 270 tons, chiefly due to a drop in the number of hop farmers stemming from hard work and a lack of successors.

Against this background, major brewer Kirin Co. and Norinchukin Bank, the central financial institution for agricultural, forestry and fishery cooperatives across the country, announced in August investment totaling ¥250 million in Beer Experience, a hop producer based in Tono.

Kirin aims for stable procurement of domestic hops, while Beer Experience plans to increase its hop production by promoting automation further.

“Thanks to a rich aroma, domestic hops add to beer taste going well with Japanese food,” Beer Experience President Atsushi Yoshida said.

Among other major beer makers, Sapporo Breweries Ltd. is providing technological support to hop production in Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures as well as in Iwate.

Sapporo Breweries is also developing hop varieties that contribute to high production efficiency.

Due to low production volume, domestic hops are used mainly for limited-production beverages. But they are also used to make craft beer, which has become popular among young people recently.

Yoshida welcomes the trend, saying, “It serves as a spur to production [of domestic hops].”

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