Brazil's 2016-17 coffee crop 64 percent harvested

Brazil's 2016-2017 coffee crop is 64 pct harvested as of July 19, up from 62 pct a year ago but slightly lagging the average harvest rate of 65 pct at this period, local crop analysts Safras & Mercado said on Thursday. Safras estimates the bumper crop at 54.9 million 60-kg bags, made up of 42.8 million bags of arabica and 12.1 million bags of conillon, the local variety of robusta.
Harvest in Minas Gerais, the state that accounts for half of Brazil's coffee output, is 55 pct completed, just ahead of the 54 pct average for the state. Espirito Santo, Brazil's No 2 coffee state and top conillon producer, has already 83 pct of its crop harvested. Gil Barabach, coffee specialist at Safras, said, with the conillon harvest nearing an end, "the sense is that production is below expectations". He said moderate frosts earlier this week appear to have only hit isolated areas on lower slopes.