Brewers and hop growers in Germany are at risk of bankruptcy

German breweries and hop growers are in more and more trouble from a business perspective. In both areas, they are struggling with increasing costs that cannot or can only be passed on with difficulty in the value chain, the representatives of the industry said in Munich. On top of all this, hop growers in the German growing areas reported a dramatically poor harvest. Adolf Schapfl, president of the German Hop Growers' Association, said that around 4-5 percent of the farms may give up their operations this year. This difficult situation will continue for a few more years, and in the long term every fifth company may be affected by the unfavorable process. In 2022, the hop harvest in Germany was 34,406 tons, 28 percent less than the previous year. This caused a loss of revenue of around 88 million euros, said Adolf Schapfl. At the same time, additional costs of 46 million euros are generated due to increased costs - including energy and fertilizer. A total of 134 million euros is ...