Erratic Rain to Dent
Brazil Coffee Crop,
Costa Rican Experts Say
Damage from irregular
rains will likely leave
Brazil's 2008/09 coffee
crop at around 44
million (60-kilogram)
bags, according to
agronomists at the Costa
Rican Coffee Institute
Sunday.
The researchers, who had
just returned from a
visit to the Minas
Gerais and Sao Paulo
producing areas, said
production would have
been 15 percent higher
were it not for
irregular rainfall there
ahead of flowering.
"There are losses, but
the impact is moderate,"
the head of the
institute's coffee
research center Jorge
Ramirez said, adding
that the dip had been
assimilated by the
market.
The Costa Rican
estimate, traditionally
one of the more accurate
ones conducted annually,
is at the low end of the
range of projections for
the Brazilian crop,
which will be harvested
from the middle of next
year.
Brazil's main exporter
group said last month it
saw the crop reaching 50
million bags.
Brazil's coffee-growing
regions saw a bout of
premature rain followed
by an unusually dry
period, after which the
normal rainy period
kicked in later than
usual.
"The crop suffered
damage from the effect
of premature rains and
the delay in the start
of the normal rainy
period, which caused the
withering of flowers and
the appearance of
abnormal flowers,"
Ramirez said.
"The eventual result of
this damage is
undersized cherries, a
reduction in the number
of cherries per tree or
the total loss of
cherries in productive
clusters, particularly
at the ends of
branches."
Ramirez said losses
would have been much
greater if the drought
period had lasted a week
longer. He said trees
could still purge
stressed cherries in the
coming weeks, a
phenomenon that would
further reduce the size
of the crop.
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