Brazil's coffee belt will be hot and showery this week, private meteorologist Somar forecast on Monday. On Sunday, temperatures ranged between 27 and 34 degrees Celsius (81 and 93 degrees Fahrenheit) in coffee areas and it's expected to get hotter in the coming days, Somar said.
South Minas should get 52 millimeters (2 inches) and the Minas forested zone 70 mm (2.7 inches) of rain this week. "There's a risk of thunderstorms in the forested coffee area of Minas Gerais," Somar said in a daily report.
A cold weather system will move through the south-east region at the weekend and will bring cloudy skies, rain and cooler weather in north-east Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and south Bahia until December 15, Somar predicted.
However, it will be hot and sunny in Sao Paulo and Parana states. South-western Sao Paulo got 170 mm of rain in November, 44 percent more than the monthly average.
But the key coffee state of Minas Gerais received less rain than usual, especially in the forested zone which got only 82 mm - 55 percent below the November average.
The Varginha district of south Minas had 176 mm, just 2 percent less rain than usual, and Cerrado received 167 mm, 13 percent below average.
The government is due to issue on Friday its first forecast of the 2005/06 (July/June) coffee crop as well as a final estimate of the current crop.
A senior government agriculture ministry official said last month that output could fall to around 33 million 60-kg bags from 38.3 million bags this year.
Producers see output at 30 million bags while traders talk of 35 million to 40 million bags in 2005/06.
SOYA BELT: Brazil's southern soyabean states should get heavy rainfall through Wednesday as a cold front pushes through the important producing region, local forecaster Somar predicted Monday.
Meanwhile, the country's main soyabean growing states in the center-west will dry out this week after rains in early December. But the front now entering the south will then push rain north again into the center-west states next week.
No 1 soya state Mato Grosso and No 4 Goias got between 32 millimeters and 35 mm last week.
In the south, No 2 producer Parana is forecast to get drenched with 173 mm over the next three days, while between 36 mm and 53 mm of rain is expected to fall on No 3 soya producer Rio Grande do Sul by Wednesday, Somar said.
"The passage of this system through the south-east favours widespread rainfall in Mato Grosso do Sul between Thursday and Friday and in Goias and Mato Grosso on the weekend," Somar said in a daily soya weather bulletin.
Next week, rain should persist in northern Mato Grosso, Goias and Bahia, as well as southern Maranhao, Somar said in an extended forecast.
Parana and Rio Grande do Sul have had abundant rain in November. Parana has had 208 millimeters, 61 percent above average.
Southern Rio Grande do Sul farms had 74 percent more rain than average for the month with 192 mm, Somar data showed.
The southern part of Mato Grosso has had 287 mm of rain, 42 percent more than the November average.