Sao Pualo, June 30 - Rains have come to a halt in the coffee producing areas of Brazil, the world's top grower, private weather forecaster Somar said on Tuesday, after showers last week prevented farmers from harvesting and drying their beans.
Just a single millimeter of rain was forecast up to the weekend in Minas Gerais, the state which produces about half of Brazil's coffee, Somar said in a daily coffee weather bulletin.
Temperatures have also picked up after turning cooler in the last fortnight. The coldest area would be the mountainous Pocos de Caldas region where temperatures would fall to around 6 degrees Celsius (43 Fahrenheit) at night, but other areas would be much warmer.
Winter began in Brazil last week, raising the risk of a crop-damaging frost though freezes are now a rare occurrence.
Nonetheless, a hail storm at the weekend in the coffee-producing town of Botelhos destroyed some coffee trees, damaged cars and buildings and injured 11 people, local media reported. Photographs showed hailstones the size of grapes.
In its extended forecast, however, Somar said temperatures would rise between July 5 and 9 and dry weather would continue.
Brazil's coffee output rises and falls in a cyclical pattern from one year to the next.
Government crop supply agency Conab gave its second estimate for the current 2009/10 harvest in May, forecasting output of 39.1 million 60-kg bags.
Others have given higher estimates, the largest from the U.S. Agriculture Department which said that the harvest could come in at 43.5 million bags.