FROM BRAZIL
Rains forecast for mid-October in thirsty Brazil croplands - RTRS
18-Sep-2014 16:59
SAO PAULO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's farm-rich center-south is expected to end the dry season and one of its worst droughts in decades in mid-October with enough rain to favor crops and the region's parched hydroelectric reservoirs, local forecaster Somar said Thursday.
With rainfall expected to be slightly above average during the normally wet spring and summer months in the southern hemisphere, Brazil's massive soybean and corn crops that farmers are starting to plant now could set new records.
The return to rains after a particularly dry winter will also help flowering and early development of the country's leading coffee and sugar cane crops that were both decimated by a severe drought in the first quarter of 2014.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of soybeans, coffee and sugar and a major producer of other agricultural commodities.
The drought also hit the country's predominantly hydroelectric-powered electricity grid, draining the main center-south reservoirs to their lowest levels in more than a decade and driving spot electricity rates to record levels.
Click to see a graphic of spot energy prices:
"This summer we will have good periods of rain, overall nothing to brag about because they won't be enough to refill the reservoirs... but the rains will be much better than the summer of 2014," meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos at Somar said.
He added that the rains will help stop the reservoirs, which are often used both for generating electricity as for drinking water in major cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, from falling further.
Forecasters including Santos expect a weak El Nino that has failed to appear in recent months to eventually arrive in the coming months. The weak version of the weather phenomenon tends to produce mildly higher rainfall levels in Brazil's south.
Santos said until the second half of October rains were likely to be irregular in the regions in question and most likely concentrated in the southern grain states of Rio Grande do Sul and Parana. Those states have been quite wet in recent months compared with the farm-rich states further to the north, such as Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso.
Sao Paulo and parts of Minas Gerais have already seen some minor showers pass through in recent weeks and are expected to see at least two more cold fronts in September that could shed rain on crop land to help the development of the coffee and cane crops.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Reese Ewing; editing by Andrew Hay)
Rains forecast for mid-October in thirsty Brazil croplands - RTRS
18-Sep-2014 16:59
SAO PAULO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's farm-rich center-south is expected to end the dry season and one of its worst droughts in decades in mid-October with enough rain to favor crops and the region's parched hydroelectric reservoirs, local forecaster Somar said Thursday.
With rainfall expected to be slightly above average during the normally wet spring and summer months in the southern hemisphere, Brazil's massive soybean and corn crops that farmers are starting to plant now could set new records.
The return to rains after a particularly dry winter will also help flowering and early development of the country's leading coffee and sugar cane crops that were both decimated by a severe drought in the first quarter of 2014.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of soybeans, coffee and sugar and a major producer of other agricultural commodities.
The drought also hit the country's predominantly hydroelectric-powered electricity grid, draining the main center-south reservoirs to their lowest levels in more than a decade and driving spot electricity rates to record levels.
Click to see a graphic of spot energy prices:
"This summer we will have good periods of rain, overall nothing to brag about because they won't be enough to refill the reservoirs... but the rains will be much better than the summer of 2014," meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos at Somar said.
He added that the rains will help stop the reservoirs, which are often used both for generating electricity as for drinking water in major cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, from falling further.
Forecasters including Santos expect a weak El Nino that has failed to appear in recent months to eventually arrive in the coming months. The weak version of the weather phenomenon tends to produce mildly higher rainfall levels in Brazil's south.
Santos said until the second half of October rains were likely to be irregular in the regions in question and most likely concentrated in the southern grain states of Rio Grande do Sul and Parana. Those states have been quite wet in recent months compared with the farm-rich states further to the north, such as Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso.
Sao Paulo and parts of Minas Gerais have already seen some minor showers pass through in recent weeks and are expected to see at least two more cold fronts in September that could shed rain on crop land to help the development of the coffee and cane crops.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Reese Ewing; editing by Andrew Hay)
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário