Costa Rica coffee harvest suffers some damage from rains. But damage toll expected to rise by outbreak of fungus

Torrential rains in Costa Rica caused an estimated loss of at least 23,000 60-kg bags and that number could rise as plant disease spreads in the country's soaked fields, the national coffee institute said.

Officials at the institute had forecast coffee production at around 1.58 million 60-kg bags for the 2011/12 crop that began in October.

The institute's damage estimate would cut that forecast by about 1.45 percent but officials expect the damage toll to rise with the spread of a fungus known as "ojo de gallo" that chews through leaves, causing coffee cherries to fall.


Original source: Reuters