Brazil Rains Halt Coffee Harvest, Threaten Quality

Unusual rainfall in Brazil, the world's leading coffee producer, has significantly disrupted the ongoing harvest. For three consecutive days, from June 11 to June 13, heavy rains soaked coffee that had already been harvested and was left to dry in farmyards across key producing regions, including Minas Gerais. This excessive moisture is uncharacteristic for the typical dry winter harvest period and may indicate an early effect of the El Nino climate anomaly.

This situation poses a dual threat: to the current crop's quality and to the health of coffee trees moving forward. The excess water can promote the spread of bacterial or fungal diseases, which are difficult to combat when resources and personnel are allocated to the harvest. Farmers have been observed attempting to reduce humidity by spreading lime on soaked coffee.

Forecasters predict continued rain through June and into July, suggesting further disruptions to the harvest and potential quality degradation of the coffee beans. Dropped berries, which can still be collected but are of lower quality, are also a concern for farmers like Fernando Barbosa in South Minas Gerais, who reported that at least 10% of berries had fallen.