Coffee crops in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais escape damage, benefit from heavy rainfall that has caused flooding, mudslides since end of October

Andrew Rogers

LOS ANGELES , January 4, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – Coffee crops in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais have benefited from the heavy rainfall that, since the end of October, has caused flooding and mudslides in other areas, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 4.

“Rainfall has not damaged any coffee producing areas,” said Antonio Alves Pereira, an agronomist at crop research state agency Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuaria de Minas Gerais, “Also, humidity is helping coffee fruit formation.”

He added that the rainfall has replenished the soil humidity levels, which is particularly beneficial for the coffee crop given that soil humidity levels had been reduced by a dry spell from May through October.

Marco Antonio dos Santos, a forecaster with Somar Meteorologia, predicted that, over the next six days, a cold front over the Brazilian states of Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo should result in a rainfall of roughly 300 millimeters (11.8 inches).

The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry reported that, in 2011, 43.5 million bags of coffee were produced in Brazil, which is the largest coffee producer and exporter in the world.

The Brazilian coffee harvest starts in May. The Agriculture Ministry will release the first estimates concerning the 2012 Brazilian coffee crop on Jan. 10.

The primary source of this article is Bloomberg, New York, New York, on Jan. 4, 2011.

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