The June export figures were preliminary and would be confirmed by the industry and commerce ministry in the second half of July, it added. But export volume were expected to gather pace with the entry of the new 1998/99 crop, particularly conillon from the key growing state of Espirito Santo.

"The present picture oftightness will begin to reverse with the arrival of the 1998/99 harvest, which is starting to be available in substantial quantities as from June," it said.

"In agreement with all the forecasts, this will be the most abundant harvest of the decade."

Abecafe recently issued its second forecast for Brazil's 1998/99 coffee harvest, pegging production at 35.2 million bags compared with 22.05 million the previous year.

The bumper production would enable Brazil to export between 17 and 18 million bags of coffee in 1998/99 and pave the way for Brazilian exporters to regain markets which they had lost in recent years, Abecafe said.

Brazil's coffee belt looks set for another frost-free five days as the cold front forecast for this week isn't expected to move far enough north to affect growing areas, meteorologists said.

Although the extreme south of Brazil would see widespread cold later this week, the country's main coffee areas lying further to the north were still likely to remain unaffected. USforecaster Weather Services Corp said a high-pressure area building in central Argentina could bring cooler temperatures to the coffee belt later this week, but no frost was expected.

"I really don't think it is of any concern," WSC meteorologist Mike Palmerino said. "The centre of the high should pass well south of the coffee belt."

The coolest conditions would be felt on Friday, when low temperatures would drop to the mid-40s to mid-50s degrees fahrenheit (7-13 celsius), Palmerino said. According to independent Brazilian meteorologists Somar, a cold air mass measuring 1,030 mb (millibars) should arrive in the state of Parana on Wednesday night, but was unlikely to affect coffee areas. "It'll be cloudy in the north (of Parana) but there are no conditions for a frost. There's no risk yet," said Somar meteorologist Marcos Massari. In Parana, coffee plantations are concentrated in the northern half of the state toward the border with Sao Paulo. Massari said the dominant feature for coffee areas during theperiod would be cloud and rain, particularly north Sao Paulo and the main growing areas of Minas Gerais, such as Cerrado. Temperatures were forecast to fall in the south of Minas Gerais on Friday night but again, no frost was expected. In the last few days, the Brazilian coffee belt has seen relatively high temperatures for the time of year with stable weather and northerly winds. For the next six to 10 days, Somar predicted that the high-pressure area currently present in the extreme south would lose force and move toward the Atlantic between July 11 and July 12. It noted that a new high-pressure area, measured at 1,022 mb, was now moving through the south Pacific. Somar data showed that no rain had fallen in major coffee areas during the last 24 hours and minimum temperatures ranged between 11 and 18 celsius (52 and 64 fahrenheit). Following are details of probability of frosts in Brazil's coffee regions from July 7 to July 11, as detailed by Somar.