SÃO PAULO, Brazil – The large volume of rains in the Brazilian producing regions of arabica and robusta coffee in the second fortnight of May delayed harvesting activities and knocked down some coffee beans from the trees.
Growers who had already started the harvesting of early coffee in the 2017/18 season had to halt activities, and those who had planned to start fieldwork decided to wait.
According to Cepea collaborators, for arabica coffee, the regions that were most affected were Zona da Mata Mineira and Paulista, with an estimate of 10% to 20% of bean drops in both regions.
In the remaining areas, bean drops were not very significant. Still, this scenario may affect both the total volume to be harvested and the yield of these batches that dropped early.
The real damages regarding the quality of the beverage have not been calculated yet, but figures are expected to be released soon.
Regarding robusta, rains in May have also delayed fieldwork; however, they have not affected quality. The harvesting was interrupted for some days, mainly in the third week of the month.
The forecast for the 2017/18 Brazilian coffee crop points to an output smaller than that expected, Cepea collaborators say.
Estimates, released by Conab in mid-May, indicated 45.5 million 60-kilo bags of processed beans (arabica and robusta), 11.3% down compared to the 2016/17 season.
Agents consulted by Cepea, however, expected approximately 50 million bags, which is near estimates of USDA released on Friday, 19, at 52.1 million bags.
The most significant gap between estimates from Conab and the expected output was observed for the arabica coffee from southern Minas Gerais and the robusta coffee from Espírito Santo.
