By Roberto Samora
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Frosts were reported in Brazil’s sugarcane, coffee and corn areas on Wednesday, analysts and weather agencies said, as the country saw very low temperatures all the way from the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul to the northern part of São Paulo.
“It has been a long time since we saw this kind of frosts in Brazil,” Rural Clima’s meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Frosts hit coffee fields in Paraná, a smaller producer, but also some coffee crops in São Paulo state, Brazil’s second largest arabica producer after Minas Gerais.
There were also reports of frosts over sugarcane fields in São Paulo, a state that accounts for over 60% of sugar output in the country.
“For sugarcane, the impact is more severe (than for coffee in Sao Paulo),” said Celso Oliveira, a meteorologist at Somar, citing the main sugar region of Ribeirão Preto as one of those affected.
Regarding corn, losses from the frost are difficult to estimate at this point, as cold weather will persist in Paraná, the second Brazilian producer of the cereal, weather specialists said. But more losses for corn are likely.
“Atmospheric conditions are still favorable for the occurrence of frosts in almost all regions of the state”, said Simepar, the Paraná weather agency.
In the case of sugarcane, it is possible the cold weather will accelerate harvesting, as mills may try to reduce losses and start crushing sooner, Somar’s Oliveira said.
“When hit by frosts, cane stops to grow and this reduces the sugar content,” Oliveira said. “Hence mills harvest before the ideal time,” he said.
Analysts said that Minas Gerais, the top coffee producer state in Brazil, would likely be spared.
The polar air mass continues to move over the central areas in Brazil and more frosts are expected on Thursday.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Ana Mano and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jonathan Oatis)
