Rains will ease in Brazil's main coffee-growing zones and cease elsewhere once Friday's showers have cleared, private weather service Somar forecast. Moderate to heavy showers should fall today in the main coffee state of Minas Gerais, which produces half of Brazil's coffee, in Espirito Santo and in Sao Paulo state where rains had already lashed down this morning on the main city.
The weather will turn dry from Saturday until Tuesday except for light rains in Minas Gerais and Alegre which will get 16 and 14 millimeters, respectively. "The cold front that brings rain to Southeast Brazil is going to move to the ocean, and mostly dry weather will return this upcoming weekend," Somar predicted in its daily coffee weather bulletin.
Brazilian coffee farms were stressed last year by dry weather, which led analysts to cut crop forecasts by 10 to 15 percent at the time. But trees recovered some of their productive potential after regular rains returned in October. In its extended 10-day forecast, Somar said the weather would be mainly dry and temperatures would rise from May 8-12.
The crop is forming coffee fruit and beans. The fruit will begin to mature into coffee cherries in the coming weeks and months. Producers in Espirito Santo and Rondonia states have begun manual harvesting of robusta beans in a few areas, weeks before the main arabica crop is gathered. In its first 2008/09 (July/June) crop forecast on January 8, the government estimated the new crop at 41.3 million to 44.2 million 60-kg bags, up from 33.7 million bags in 2007/08.
The government will revise its forecast on May 8. Helped by rains and good fertilising, coffee output should be closer to the high end of the range. Analysts and traders, however, have eyed an even larger crop of 48 million to 55 million bags.
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