Hop fields are concentrated in the Savinja Valley, as well as around the towns of Celje, Ptuj, Ormož, Slovenj Gradec and Radlje ob Dravi. In the decade from 2002 (1,856 ha) until 2012 (1,160 ha), we have witnessed a reduction of the hop area cultivated by more than a third (38%). Since 2014, in line with the increase in demand for hops by craft breweries in the US and EU, the hop acreage in Slovenia has been increasing again. In 2016, the production of hops took place on 112 – mostly mixed farms with 1,484 ha of hops in total – approximately 3% of the global hop area.
The Slovenian hop industry exports 99% of the harvested hops. The main export market is the EU countries (80%). The contact and spot prices of hops depend on the situation on the world market. In 2015, the following main hop varieties were produced: Aurora (526 ha), Celeia (494 ha), Savinjski golding (152 ha), Bobek (138 ha), Styrian Gold (39 ha) etc. Furthermore, there are some new promising flavour hop varieties, such as Styrian Wolf and Styrian Cardinal.
