BRASIL – Safras & Mercado revises estimates

Brasilia – Safras & Mercado have revised their crop estimate for 2007/08 from 34-35.8 million bags to 36.5 million bags, in line with estimates coming from the trade and with the revised IBGE estimate of 36.6 million bags. According to Safras “really good weather at the start of the year that helped germination.” The excellent weather conditions that have accompanied the start of the harvest season have brought forward the picking of the crop resulting in 13% already having been gathered. Despite the early start, Safras expects the harvest period to continue longer longer than normal due to irregular flowering and therefore uneven ripening. At the same time Safras also raised their forecast for 2006-07 to 47.7 million bags of which it believes that 83% has been sold.