Brazil's center-south coffee and sugar cane belts are in line to see more scattered showers in the coming week, after sporadic, light rains in early July slowed the pace and quality of harvest, forecasters said on Friday.
A new cold front is expected to settle over Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul where the brunt of the precipitation is expected to fall, following heavy rains there last week, local forecasters Somar said.
Though rains were sufficient in the south to cause damage to some maturing grain crops, the showers further north in the coffee and sugar cane growing regions were more limited, hitting some areas but not others.
Data from local government-linked forecaster Inmet showed coffee regions around the towns of Franca and Barretos in southern Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo states, respectively, have seen between 12 and 17 millimeters (0.5-0.7 inches) so far in July.
But other regions such as Varginha and Casa Branca only received trace amounts to none this month.
Somar's senior forecaster Marco Antonio Dos Santos said precipitation over the heart of the coffee belt in Minas Gerais state will be limited through next week.
Brazil's coffee belt harvested 52 percent of the expected crop earlier this week, local analyst Safras e Mercado said. Rains over the coffee growing regions often slow harvesting and almost certainly hurt the quality of the beans that must be cured under dry conditions to acquire the best flavors.
Sugar cane regions however stand to see more rain next week as the cold front pushes into the southern half of Sao Paulo state, the main producer of sugar and ethanol in Brazil. As much as 30-50 mm (1.2 inches to 2 inches) of rain is expected over the week in the southern half of the cane belt.
Brazilian cane mills entered the peak of harvest last month when dry weather favored crushing of the new crop into sugar and ethanol. Rains of significant volumes force mills to temporarily suspend operations until fields dry out sufficiently.
(Reporting by Reese Ewing Editing by W Simon)