Helsinki, Oct 7 - Good weather conditions could mean a rise of 20 percent in the 2010/11 Brazilian coffee crop versus a year ago, the head of the ECOM Coffee Group said on Wednesday.
"It's very early to say as the flowering is just starting, but it looks to be a promising year, maybe 20 percent higher than this year," ECOM Chief Executive Eduardo Esteve told Reuters on the sidelines of a seminar in Helsinki.
"It could go to the mid-fifties (million of 60-kg bags) easily, it looks very good but it's still very far away," he said.
Esteve also said the recent trend of rising coffee prices was making it harder for coffee farmers in Brazil.
"Prices recently have been driven by the ... dollar being weak ... (and) the real from Brazil being very strong. The coffee prices need to go higher to make coffee farming sustainable in Brazil," he said.
ECOM Coffee is a unit of ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd.