(This article was originally published Monday.)
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Colombia's main coffee growing regions continued to suffer from erratic rainfall in July, with almost all key areas reporting sharply lower than normal rain, Colombia's National Coffee Research Center, Cenicafe, said Monday.
The latest rainfall figures released by Cenicafe also showed that reports from producers and exporters of highly unpredictable and unusual weather patterns continue to cause severe problems to the new 2009-10 crop cycle.
Rainfall was close to drought-like conditions in four of the five departments that make up 60% of Colombia's national output, including Antioquia, Tolima, Quindio, Riseralda and Caldas.
July rainfall was down 32% in Colombia's largest producing province of Antioquia, while in the departments of Riseralda, Quindio and Tolima, rainfall was down between 46% and 81%, Cenicafe said in the report.
But July rainfall at the Cenicafe weather station in the central Caldas department, home to the famous coffee regions of Chinchina and Manizales, received 225 millimeters, or 42% above the historical average.
Continued heavy rainfall can both delay the harvest and damage mature cherries ready to be picked in the current crop, while too dry weather from July to October will damage flowering for next year's mitaca, or mid-harvest.
Cenicafe is funded by the National Coffee Federation, Colombia's main coffee growers' organization, that represents some 300,000 of the country's 500,000 producers.
Cenicafe's meteorological stations are located in the coffee-growing regions of Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Cesar, Huila, Quindio, Risaralda, Tolima and Valle del Cauca. The 10 regions account for about 84% of total Colombian output.
Below is a table of rain levels recorded by Cenicafe in July (in millimeters):
Name of stationDept.Jul His. averageChg
El Rosario Antioquia125 185-32%
Cenicafe (Manizales) Caldas 225 158+42%
Naranjal (Chinchina) Caldas 219 187+17%
La CatalinaRisaralda 61 112-46%
Paraguaycito Quindio 2577-67%
La SirenaValle 5399-46%
La TrinidadTolima1896-81%
PuebloBello(Santa Marta) Cesar136 147 -7.5%
San AntonioSantander 37 131-72%
Manuel Mejia Cauca 3347-30%
Source: Cenicafe
-By Maja Wallengren, Dow Jones Newswires, mwallengren@hotmail.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 03, 2009 07:38 ET (12:38 GMT)