Hop Supply of United Kingdom. 



335 



little curious to note that in the very next year, 1855, the 

 amount charged with duty was almost as large as the 

 quantity harvested in 1886, attaining a total of 743,000 cwts., 

 which would probably represent the biggest production of 

 the past fifty years, with the possible exception of 1886.* 



Prior to 186 1-6 the importations of hops appear to have 

 been very small ; only in a single instance (1854) did they 

 attain 100,000 cwts., and in 185 1 there was an excess of 

 exports. In the early sixties, when the hop duty was 

 abolished, there was a sudden increase in the imports, to a level 

 which, as already mentioned, has remained practically con- 

 stant ever since. The maximum gross importation was'322,500 

 cwts. in 1869, and 319,600 cwts. in 1882, while the minimum 

 since 1866 has been 1 22,700 cwts. in 1873.. In 1886, however, 

 an unusually large exportation (69,000 cwts. of British and 

 foreign hops) reduced the net imports of that year to 84,000 

 cwts., which was just the same as in 1873. During the decade 

 which has elapsed since the Committee of the Hop Industry 

 made its report, the total imports have shown very little 

 fluctuation, with the exception, perhaps, of 1897 an d 1898, 

 which were respectively the lowest and highest of the ten 

 years. 



A certain quantity, usually about 10,000 cwts., of English 

 hops are annually exported, mainly to the East Indies, the 

 Cape, Australia, Belgium, and sometimes Germany. The 

 re-exports of foreign hops have varied of late years between 

 3,000 and 8,000 cwts ; they are chiefly shipped to Germany 

 and the United States, but both appear to be uncertain 

 markets. 



An attempt may now be made to estimate the quantity of 

 hops available for consumption in the United Kingdom by 

 the rough-and-ready method of adding the net imports of one 

 year to the production of the preceding harvest. The table 

 on the next page shows the result of such a calculation for 

 the past decade. 



Upon this assumption it would seem that the total avail- 

 able, on the average of the ten years 1888-97, was about 



* Particulars of the production in 1S98 and 1899 will be found on page 428. 



