Coffee Growers Pick 25% of Crop in Brazilian Region

Coffee growers in Minas Gerais, Brazil’s main arabica-producing state, have picked 25 percent of the planted area, according to weather forecaster Somar Meteorologia.

“The dry weather observed in the last few days has favored the coffee harvest, which runs smoothly in all the coffee- growing regions of the Southeast,” agronomist Marco Antonio dos Santos said in a report e-mailed today. The Southeast region includes the state of Minas Gerais.

Yields are between 20 and 30 bags per hectare (2.47 acres), a normal level for a low-cycle year, Somar said, citing unidentified producers and agronomists.

Brazilian coffee output will drop to 43.5 million bags this year from 48.1 million bags last year as trees enter the lower- yielding half of a two-year cycle, the Agriculture Ministry’s crop-forecasting agency, known as Conab, said in May.

Lower temperatures this year are resulting in better quality beans, Santos said in the report.

There are no signs of rain that could slow down pickings or drying of the beans in the next few days, he said. There are no signs of frost in the next 15 days either, he added.

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