An agriculture ministry spokesman said he had reports of damage from the unrelenting rains, despite no formal estimates yet of any coffee losses."Lester was too far North. At its closest proximity it was only up just to near Acapulco (Guerrero state)," Weather Services Corp (WSC) meteorologist Jim Serna told Reuters.A sister storm further up the Pacific coast, Hurricane Madeline, and forecasters said it was too far from coffee growing regions to harm trees.WSC said in a report earlier in the day heavy rains fromLester could slow the harvest and block transportation.

Growers have already said parts of the coffee crop in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca will be delayed four to six weeks. The 1998-1999 crop normally begins in October."I think the effect was more marginal. The key is if there were enough winds to knock the beans down," Cropcast meteorologist Brent Wachter told Reuters.Mexico's 1998-1999 coffee harvest in Chiapas has already been hurt by a severe drought earlier this year. Growers say a total 700,000 60-kg (132-lb.) bags of coffee in the whole country were lost, mostly in southern Chiapas. Growers and government officials have revised down their 1998-1999 coffee estimate numbers to between 4.0 million and 4.5 million bags because of the drought, compared to 4.8 million 60-kg bags from the 1997-1998 crop.