Brazil Coffee Crops May Start Flowering Next Week Amid Rain

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Coffee crops in Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of the bean, may begin flowering next week as an expected cold front brings rainfall to producing areas.

Coffee-growing regions of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo states, which account for about 58 percent of the nation’s crop, will get rain between Oct. 2 and Oct. 4, Somar Meteorologia weather forecaster Marco Antonio dos Santos said. The producing areas should get as much as 15 millimeters (0.6 inch) of rainfall, which is enough to set off flowering, he said.

“Trees are more than ready to start flowering,” Santos said today in a telephone interview from Sao Paulo. “All leads me to believe we are getting it all, a record crop and great quality of beans.”

Brazil should produce at least 58 million bags next year, Santos said. That compares with 43.1 million bags this year, according to a Sept. 13 forecast by the country’s crop research agency, Conab. The harvest of next year’s crop should start in May.

The intensity and extent of flowering is seen as a predictor of coffee output.

A bag of coffee weighs 60 kilos (132 pounds).