Hop Problems

Hallertau was hit by a huge hail storm on May 26th. scary slide show of hail, but not of vines - (picture below from German Hop Growers Assn. is post-storm). Here's the preliminary damage from the Bavarian Brewers Federation:

Total affected plantings in Germany:
Approx. 10,000 acres or 4,000 hectares
Total est. losses: 5,000 metric tons

Hallertau:
Approx. 2,500 acres complete wipe-out
Approx. 3,700 acres severely damaged
Approx. 3,700 acres lightly to moderately damaged

Tettnang:
Approx. 850 acres severely damaged
Approx. 1,000 acres moderately damaged
Approx. 1,200 acres lightly damaged to not damaged at all
Impact: 170 metric tons of total crop

Czech Republic Saaz region:
Approx. 175 acres severely damaged
Approx. 150 acres moderately damaged

For a meaningful comparison:
Hallertau total plantings = 38,740 acres
Hallertau total harvest > 32,000 metric tons
Total global plantings = about 150,000
Total global harvest = about 110,000 metric tons

Summary:
* The Hallertau as a whole usually produces about one-third of all the world's hops.
* The affected areas represent about 25% of the Hallertau's hop-growing acreage..
* The affected areas represent about 6% to 7% of the world's hop-growing acreage.
* The projected losses of 5,000 mt represent about 15% of the German hop harvest.
* The projected losses represent about 4.5% of the global hop harvest

Market Outlook:
"It is obviously far too early to make any projections about the final crop outcome. Nevertheless it is safe to say that we are unlikely to reach long-term averages for the Hallertau and Tettnang after the devastating storm ... [However] ... we certainly do not predict another hop shortage for crop 2009 at this point ..."