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During their winter months of June, July and August, Brazilian coffeegrowers observe a time-honored ritual: they spread rumors of crop-killing frosts in hopes of pushing up coffee prices on commodity exchanges. Hence there was nothing out of the ordinary about reports of a "White Friday" last month -except that this time the stories turned out to be true. For the first time since 1943, snow fell in the southern state of Paraná, which produces half of Brazil's coffee. In neighboring São Paulo state, frost damaged 50% to 70% of the coffee trees...
...would be a triumph of panic over economic logic. The snow and frost did not change estimates that Brazil's 1975-76 coffee crop will total 21 million bags, because they damaged only the future ability of coffee trees to bear berries, not the berries hanging on the trees now. Production will indeed drop during the following two crop years; it might be cut in half during 1976-77. Still, no major shortage looks likely. Brazil has reserves of 21 million bags that could be sold to keep exports close to normal levels over the next three years, until...
...Brazilian government is eager to see coffee planting moved northward, away from the danger of frost, so it may encourage growers in Paraná and São Paulo to switch to soybeans. But if new areas of cultivation do not open up quickly, Brazil's exportable crop, which accounted for 32% of the world coffee trade in 1974-75, could fall drastically...
...power. Other suggestions focused on improving mass-transit finances. Several people proposed that municipal buses, trolleys and subway cars earn additional Income by hauling freight in off-hours. To produce perhaps $1.5 million in annual revenues, Benjamin Lawless of Washington, D.C., urged that a grain crop be grown on the 5 million acres of federal land bordering the interstate highways. Then there was San Diego Bus Fleet Owner Jack Haberstroh's idea: he charges no fares on his buses, but makes a profit nonetheless by turning each vehicle into a rolling advertising medium that is not only completely slathered...
Further inflationary surprises may be on the way, though. Most worrisome are the possible price implications of renewed Soviet hunger for U.S. crops. Big purchases of corn, wheat and barley an nounced last week brought the total amount of U.S. grain the Soviets have contracted to buy to 9.8 million metric tons. That is still within the 10 million tons that Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz figures the U.S. can sell with only a minimal impact on domestic prices. But continuing drought in the U.S.S.R. is raising worries that the Soviets might later seek to buy huge additional quantities; at midweek...