Production Regions

Elbe-Saale Production Region

Up until 1980 the Elbe-Saale production region in Central Germany belonged to the German Democratic Republic; it embraces more than 50 hop-growing places in today's Federal German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia established around the two rivers the Elbe and the Saale. Here hop production has a long tradition going back to the 11th century and was of great significance particularly in the Middle Ages. In the 17th century when the German hop production shifted southwards considerable setbacks followed. There was a new beginning in the 1950s; at the time when Germany was reunited 2,300 hectares were already under hops in the Elbe-Saale production region. Big farming cooperatives (around 40 farms) are characteristic of this production region. Wide-scale new investments, improved production methods and the transition to marketable bitter hops, especially high-alpha varieties, were typical for the further development of this production region.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Acreage in ha	1 284	1 321	1 383	1 375	1 379	1 390
Total crop in tons	2 251	2 698	2 830	2 663	2 631	2 882
Average yield in tons/h	1,75	2,04	2,05	1,94	1,91	2,07
Proportion of total German crop in %	7,90	8,39	7,13	8,50	7,69	7,56

	Acreage in ha
Principal varieties	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Hallertauer Magnum	831	827	842	844	854	866
Herkules	13	84	133	134	136	134
Perle	128	132	147	150	152	153

Source: EU reports, HVG, Mehop

	Crop in tons
Principal varieties	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Hallertauer Magnum	1 639	1 831	1 895	1 550	1 687	1 746
Herkules	8	89	244	406	291	398
Perle	182	252	245	288	268	315

Source: EU reports, HVG, Mehop