Brazil’s Robusta Harvest May Be Delayed on Rains, Broker Says

The robusta coffee harvest in Brazil, the world’s second-largest producer of the variety, may only begin next month after rainfall in March, according to Rio de Janeiro-based broker
Flavour Coffee.

“The heavy rains during March and yet cloudy days may delay the start of the harvesting for May,” the broker said in a weekly report e-mailed yesterday.

Harvesting of the 2011-12 crop in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil’s main robusta-producing region, was expected to commence in the second half of April, CEPEA, a University of Sao
Paulo research group, said last month.

The “general shape” of robusta trees is “nice,” with “plenty of cherries,” Flavour Coffee said. Trees still need “some weeks until maturation starts,” it said.