USA: US hop stocks up 16% from a year ago

Not counting this fall’s harvest, U.S. hop stocks are at 114 million pounds, up 16 percent from a year ago, the Capital Press reported on September 25.

This is the third September in a row of increases, generally reflective of supply exceeding demand and pressure on dealers and growers.

Production increased 17.2 million pounds, or 20 percent, in 2017 over 2016, and the new report indicates consumption in the past 12 months essentially keeping pace, said Peter Mahony, vice president of supply chain and purchasing for John I. Haas, Inc., Yakima, a leading hops grower, processor and researcher.

“This is a positive sign, in fact better than expected, when considering the general slowdown in the domestic craft brewing sector,” Mahony said.

While it’s concerning to be sitting on 114 million pounds of stock, the rate of increases in stock soon may be stabilizing, particularly if acreage increases are held in check in 2019, he said.

Of the 114 million pounds, 72 million are held by growers and dealers and 42 million by brewers, according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service report issued Sept. 19.

The dealer and grower stock is virtually all stored in Yakima, Mahony said.

The Sept. 1 hop inventory was 98 million pounds in 2017, 85 million in 2016 and 83 million in 2015.

The March 1 inventory, usually higher than September, was 169 million pounds this March, up 21 percent from 140 million on March 1, 2017. It was 128 million pounds in 2016.

Washington’s hop harvest is two-thirds done and will finish about Oct. 5, said Hunter Van de Graaf, Haas procurement specialist.

In 2017, U.S. hop production totaled a record 104 million pounds, according to NASS. Acres harvested were a record 53,282, up 5 percent from the previous record of 50,857 acres in 2016. Value of production was a record $618 million, up 24 percent from the record high of $498 million in 2016.

25 September, 2018