Australia: Hop Products Australia reports crop 2014 results

For Hop Products Australia’s crop 2014 the area harvested was 408 hectares, a decrease of 41 hectares from crop 2013, the company reported in April.

This decrease is reflective of the scheduled replanting program, with approximately 20% of HPA production area replanted with new flavour varieties during the spring and early summer.

With a challenging growing season behind us the yields by variety were quite variable. In some cases varieties yielded well beyond expectation, however the season proved more challenging for some and despite lots of cones being present the cone weight of some varieties fell well short of long term averages.

Overall, the area harvested yielded 1,079 MT which is a relatively small decrease in overall yield. The reduction in the number of hectares harvested was compensated by a modest increase in the average yield of hops / hectare.

All in all the harvest result was in line with budgeted expectations, enabling HAP to meet all contracted commitments and still hold a modest long position of most varieties.

16 May, 2014