Mongozo‘s First Gluten-Free Buckwheat Beer Takes Gold in London

Source: Mongozo

The Mongozo Buckwheat White recently won gold at the World Beer Awards in London. Brewed with unique ingredients, the Buckwheat White is praised for its fresh and fruity aroma and smooth aftertaste. Most importantly, it is gluten-free, and is, therefore, ideal for gluten intolerant consumers.

Jan Fleurkens, director of the Mongozo Company, assures that the absence of gluten in no way affects the taste of this beverage, and notes that it successfully underwent the Max Havelaar Fairtrade and organic certification.

In order to ensure that the beer is 100% gluten-free, a reputable laboratory thoroughly checks the beer for the gluten, after its removal from Buckwheat White. The beer is brewed with buckwheat in addition to barley malt, rice, hops and herbs, such as coriander and orange peel.

The Mongozo brand is famous for its organic fairtrade and exotic beers. More than thirty countries now import Mongozo beers, with Norway and Portugal soon joining the list. Beer Hub Co. Ltd. in Shanghai has been importing this brand since last year. Belgian beer is popular in China, especially innovative brands like Mongozo.

Today, China and Russia are the largest producers of buckwheat, or kasha, the name used for the crop in Eastern Europe. China dominates in the global buckwheat trade. In 2014, China exported 41 thousand tonnes of buckwheat totaling 28,445 thousand USD, a robust 48% over the previous year. Its primary trading partner was Japan, where it supplied 79% of its total buckwheat exports in value terms, accounting for 63% of Japan's total imports.

From 2007 to 2014, China was a net exporter of buckwheat. Over this period, exports consistently exceeded imports in value terms. However, in physical terms, the difference was less pronounced.

The U.S. and Lithuania were among the other main global suppliers of buckwheat in 2014. The fastest growing exporters from 2007 to 2014 were India (+61% per year) and Lithuania (+39% per year). Lithuania, by virtue of this sustained recent growth, significantly strengthened its position in the global export structure.

China's top 5 trading partners in 2014 were Japan, France, the U.S., the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, with a combined 98% share of China's buckwheat exports. The share of Japan increased nicely (+10 percentage points), while the share of France illustrated negative dynamics (-1 percentage points).

Source: World: Buckwheat - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2020