Around 200 growers, traders, brewers and other experts from 20 countries from around the globe are expected at the biennial event that is returning to Slovenia after the country also hosted it in 1953, 1969 and 1992.

Organised by the Slovenian Hop Growers Association, the event will feature meetings of the international organisation's various committees and a number of panel discussions.

Participants will also get to know the work of their Slovenian colleagues and of the Slovenian Institute for Hop Research and Brewing, headquartered in Žalec, visit the Eco-Museum of Hop-Growing and Brewing Industry in Žalec and some of Slovenia's tourist attractions.

Hop growers in Slovenia have been actively involved in the promotion of technological research, hop market analysis and sector lobbying since the very beginning of the IHGC in 1951, the organisers said on the event's web page.

There are 120 hop growers active in Slovenia this year on 1,596 hectares of land. In 2018 the surface area was 1,667 hectares and yielded a total of 3,078 tonnes of hops, the Statistics Office reported.

The bulk of the hops produced is exported, while a major client is also Slovenia's largest brewery Pivovarna Laško Union, owned by Heineken, which says it uses exclusively Slovenian hops.