Germany: Germany hops area rises by about 300 ha this year

According to official data, total hop acreage in Germany has risen by approx. 300 ha and is around 20,700 ha now. Of these, 19,800 ha are mature hops with the rest being baby hops, HVG reports.

Major developments of varieties can be summarised as follows:

� The high alpha variety Herkules continues to increase slightly (+2.5 %) and therefore remains the world�s biggest variety making up 11 % of world hop acreage, or in other words, 25 % of world alpha production;

� Acreages of Perle and Hallertauer Tradition (both aroma varieties) increased by 3 %;

� Almost all other varieties decreased, especially flavour varieties.

The current development reflects the previous years� market situation: varieties Herkules, Perle and Hallertauer Tradition were rather scarce while all other varieties were sufficient, HVG said.