Bad weather hurts coffee production in S Brazil

Brownish spots have stained large areas of coffee fields in the south of Brazil's top producer Minas Gerais, a sign that the worst cold snap in nearly 30 years will hurt production for at least the next two crops, according toan agronomist.

Adriano de Rezende, technical coordinator at the Minasul coffee cooperative, estimated that between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the crops were hit by the unusually cold temperatures that reached the region on July 20, spurring the worst frost since 1994, according to farmers and analysts.

"It was worse than I imagined," said Rezende said after flying over the region on Thursday. "It's hard to see a field that hasn't suffered any damage."

Rezende flew over farms in Varginha and other areas in Minas, such as Eloi Mendes, Paraguaçu, Alfenas, Machado, Boa Esperança e Carmo da Cachoeira.

The agronomist and local farmers said that frost struck the region again on Friday but it was less intense, also hitting the Serra da Mantiqueira area, as a new polar mass advances through the center-south region. Minasul operates in the south of Minas Gerais, a region that accounted for around 40 per cent of arabica coffee production in Brazil in 2020. Arabica is the main type used by large coffee companies such as Starbucks (SBUX.O) and Nestle.

Another key producing region, the Cerrado Mineiro, has also been severely impacted. read more Minasul President Jose Marcos Rafael Magalhaes estimates the coffee sector in Minas Gerais will lose 5 billion to 6 billion reais ($971.5 million-$1.17 billion) due to lost production.

The frosts in Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee, sent prices in New York sky-rocketing to above $2 per pound for the first time since 2014 earlier this week. read more

Rezende believes it is early to estimate production losses precisely, as more frosts were expected.

He also said that the intensity of the burning by the cold varies even in the same field in a farm, what makes the evaluation harder.The production cycle of arabica coffee alternates years of high and lower production, since trees get stressed after a large crop and produce less the following year.