Coffee harvesting in Brazil's Minas Gerais and São Paulo states should start around 15 days earlier than normal this year after excessive heat in December and January accelerated the fruit ripening process, farm cooperative Cooxupé said on Wednesday. "Excessive temperatures in January could impact production this year," said Carlos Paulino da Costa, president of Cooxupé, Brazil's number 1 exporter of green coffee.
"With all that heat, we will have to push harvesting forward, because the berries ripen quicker," he told Reuters. Coffee farmers associated with the cooperative produce mostly arabica beans in the regions of South Minas, Cerrado Mineiro and parts of Sao Paulo state. Harvest usually starts around May for arabica beans. Robusta coffee harvest normally starts around a month earlier.
An early harvest is not what most producers were looking for after they produced Brazil's largest crop ever last year at around 62 million bags. There is still enough coffee in the market and prices are at historically low levels. Despite the dry, warm weather in December and January, rains returned to coffee fields in February, reducing problems with soil moisture.
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