Brazilian coffee farms will have cooler and wetter weather this week as a cold front rolls across the region, but there is no risk of frost, private forecaster Somar predicted Monday.
The lowest temperature forecast was 7 Celsius (45 Fahrenheit) in northern Parana on Tuesday night. The minimum in south Minas was projected at 8 Celsius on Wednesday.
Scattered showers forecast in south Minas and in the forested eastern region of Minas Gerais state will slow harvesting, Somar added in a daily report. "A mass of polar air linked to the cold front will move into the ocean and won't generate intense cold in producer areas," Somar said.
Somar added that another cold front forecast next weekend will bring rain to Parana, Sao Paulo and south Minas but no intense cold. Dry weather in June in Brazil's Southeast region aided the coffee harvest which is of higher quality than last year.
An estimated 32 percent of an estimated 43.5 million 60-kg crop had been picked by June 21, versus 31 percent at the same time last year, private analysts Safras e Mercado said. Arabicas are 23 percent and robustas 59 percent gathered.
On April 7, the government revised downward its 2006/07 (July/June) crop forecast to 40.62 million 60-kg bags from the 42 million bags estimated in December due to drought earlier in the year in the forested coffee area of Minas Gerais.
But Brazil's crop will still be 23.3 percent higher than the 32.94 million bags produced in 2005/06 due to the upturn in arabica's biennial crop cycle and increased crop care. The next government forecast is due on August 25. The government estimate was at the lower end of domestic trade views of between 40 million and 44 million bags.
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