Hopunion harvest update and more

[ralpho123]

Hello Everyone,

Catching up on some of the forum questions and answers and thought it was time to throw in a few thoughts and comments.

Harvest update- First the US harvest went very well on the whole. I thought the aromas in the hops were better than normal. They appeared to have more depth in them when rubbing the hops. Color was very good and overall physical aspects were above average. Only setback I saw was that seed was higher than normal. Different thoughts on why, but I attribute it towards the last Winter. What? Yes last Winter. What we had was a very large snow pack in the Cascades. When we have that, there is a tendency to have a windy Spring and Summer at least until the snow pack goes away. Simple fact is that in Yakima is a desert and has low humidity. When the day gets warm, the cold air in the mountains gets sucked into the valley. Any way the short story is pollen got pushed around much more than normal. Seems to happen when there is a good snow pack, so you get the jest of my thought process. We had 8-9,000 acres of hops put in this past year which is huge. They were put in because of the crazy prices for sure. They didn't produce the best they could have because way too much was put in that people could properly handle and much of the rootstock used was pretty small. Hops were sold pretty heavy and the latest contracts were not filled completely this year by the growers. This wasn't all bad. What it means to me is that these newly planted hops will produce well next year. Overall the US production was much better than last year and we now have a much better inventory of hops to sell. Germany had a bumper crop and is now the driver in world hop prices. The rest of Europe did about average as a whole. I understand there are some hops still available in Slovenia and Poland and bits and pieces elsewhere.

Noticed questions in other posts regarding alpha acid and world supply. First, one must be a little careful when looking at statistical numbers and trying to determine if we have too many or too little hops. Stats do though give us trends and the trend now is that acres have been planted and there are more hops being produced in the world today compared to last year. Personally I think we are now in a pretty good balance. I understand some international breweries are still in need of hops, but are waiting to see if they can get the price down a bit more. This game played out a little last week at a yearly convention called the Brau in Nuremberg Germany. I did not go this year, but did attend last year and saw prices skyrocket in one day as brewers were trying to buy hops that didn't exist. This year there were some hops available and the market is different. I do think that we might see an oversupply next year, but I am basing that on normal production. As for comparing alpha acid, I still mainly aroma hops and that doesn't fit into the equation quite as easily. We deal in lbs of hops only. Alpha acid also doesn't deal well with hop varieties. They may be plenty of alpha shown in the world market, but certain varieties might get sold out and they really don't always play into the general hop game.

In any case, hops are much more available this year. Will we run out of certain hops. Yes, we will, but at this point the good news is most are still in stock. Running out of particular varieties throughout the year is common. Running out of most all hops like last year was not very fun.

One of our biggest problems this year is getting everything pelletized for the brewery demand. This issue is happening with pellet and extract plants around the world. Good news is that I was able to start a little earlier than normal and am keeping way ahead of last year. Still we will be pelleting into at least February of next year. Just got in this week five containers of European hops. Will need to pelletize many of these hop. Problem of having them done in Europe is I wouldn't have gotten some of them until March or April of next year. More are still coming and will try and put them into the schedule soon as posible.

Trust this helps a little into market insight, but do ask a few questions.

Ralph Olson
Hopunion LLC

[pennbrew2]

Ralph: Are you currently offering any "spot market" hops? If so, what varieties are available?

My needs are tiny.

Thanks!

---Guy

[ralpho123]

Hops for sale

Hello Guy,

Yes, we have a pretty good supply of hops for sale. Have run quite a few US varieties and got some good 2007 European hops in throughout the Summer. We still have some of those hops left. Just call into the office and the girls can give you more information. Just remember, it changes all the time, both running out of things and getting something additional in. Looks much better than last year on the whole. Some hops available now would be Cascade, Simcoe®, Amarillo®, Ahtanum, Palisade, Crystal, Mt Hood, and Newport to mention a few.

Cheers,

Ralph Olson

PS- Am taking the rest of the week off, but will take some time and look thru all the questions put on the forum the last month or so and will try to put send in a few answers.

[wildcrafter]

Ralph, you have the great skill of writing how you speak. I can imagine your facial expressions as you write too!

Did you give a as you wrote about 8000-9000 more acres planted?

[ralpho123]

Thanks for the nice comments

Thanks for the nice comments. Yes, I was smiling as I wrote the increase as this is the third time I have been thru this type cycle. The first was in 1980 and prices went from a little over a dollar per pound in August to over seven dollars by the end of September. Ironically the next year had many new acres planted and there was a world bumper crop and the price dropped to $.30 per lb. Came back somewhat the next year, but saw a lot of casualties in the form of growers and some dealers, one of which I was working for at the time. Was the Von Horst Company and they were located in the same building I am still in, but that market was the beginning of the end for them. Bought too many high priced hops without all of them being sold. Long story how that all happened, but bottom line is markets can change fast, both good and bad. The second hot market was around 1990. It also did OK, but same story. Lots of acres put in and eventually a market collapse. That was in my mind the beginning of the end for the old Hopunion USA company that was German owned at the time. It did last until 1999, but eventually merged in with the JIH/Barth Company. There was one other company in the middle called Western Hop Company that was owned by growers and purchased from the Von Horst Company. It lasted three years. They thought a market would come back more quickly, but it didn't and neither did they. Western Hop Company lasted from 1983-1986. Needless to say I have seen a few companies come and go from this building. I keep a picture of the old Von Horst crew in my Tap Room dated 1980. Good memories, but also makes one think about how to go about business to survive. Both Von Horst and Hopunion USA, which was part of the parent company in Germany, were both around 200 years old and I saw both disappear. Yes, I do smile, but sometimes a tear or two come out as I have seen many good people forced out of this business or just give up. Not much different than many businesses except in this one you often see many generations coming thru the system. How this new round goes, who knows, but from my experiences, there will be some casualties when this round is done. Enough already.

Cheers,

Ralph Olson
Hopunion LLC