Órbigo, la comarca leonesa que produce el 90% del lúpulo que demandan las cerveceras en España
El cultivo de este ingrediente básico para la cerveza genera 400 empleos directos en una zona castigada por el envejecimiento de la población y el éxodo rural
Órbigo, a region in the Spanish province of León, accounts for 90% of the hops demanded by Spanish breweries. Hops are one of four essential ingredients in beer, alongside water, barley malt, and yeast. Farmers in the Órbigo comarca have been busy harvesting the plants, which can reach six meters in height and are intertwined in metal structures spread across 500 hectares.
The vast surface area is currently covered in the fruit, which, after processing, drying, and converting into pellets, is used to add bitterness or aroma to the beer produced in the 261 active breweries in Spain. Spain produced 41.52 million hectoliters of beer in 2025, making it the second-largest beer producer in Europe after Germany.
This surpassed traditional beer-producing countries such as the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, and Belgium, according to Cristina de Aguirre, the Director of Public Affairs at Cerveceros de España.
Written by urgent.news from El Pais Economia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
