The Ministry of Agriculture did not support the idea of ​​​​creating a hop growing program

The Russian Ministry of Agriculture is not considering the creation of a separate program for hop growing, which the Association of Beer Producers (APP) previously requested. About it RBC reports with reference to the press service of the department.

The Association of Beer Producers (including AB InBev Efes, Baltika and Heineken) in August proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture allocate 9.5 billion rubles for the development of the program. According to RBC, brewers now use hops, 95% of which are imported. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that the existing measures to support the industry are sufficient and called on manufacturers to invest more actively in the production of raw materials. The department, as follows from the response, recommended “to take direct part in financing the planting of hop fields to meet the needs of its production programs.”

According to the publication, the share of Russian hops in beer production is only 4.7%, and the volume of imports of hops and hop products last year amounted to 4.4 thousand tons, which is 9.9% more than a year earlier. Brewers also pointed out the lack of equipment that is used to develop hop-growing technology.

The Ministry of Agriculture said that they expect an increase in the area of ​​hop cultivation, as relevant investment projects are being implemented in a number of regions. They also explained that the current state program for agricultural development already provides for support for hop growing through preferential lending mechanisms.