El Nino will bring warmer temperatures in Brazil’s coffee belt. According to Brazil’s National Meteorological Institute (Inmet) the country will experience a moderate El Nino phenomenon by the end of 2015.
This will bring steady rain in the main grain producing regions and sustained drought in the arid north, says the Institute.
Southeast coffee growing regions are likely to have warmer temperatures, but not necessarily more rainfall. That is good news for Arabica coffee crops in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, where rains during the May-August harvest have caused damage.
According to Silas Brasileiro, president of the National Coffee Council (quoted by Reuters), Parana, which produces 2 percent of Brazil’s annual output, is most at risk of seeing coffee cherries damaged during harvest if El Nino intensifies.
