May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee output in Brazil, the world's biggest producer of the commodity, will rise more than previously forecast to a five-year high as rains boost yields, the government said.

Coffee growers will harvest 45.5 million bags of the beans this year, more than a January forecast of between 41.3 million and 44.2 million bags, the Agriculture Ministry's stockpiles agency said today in a statement. Output will rise from 33.7 million bags in 2007.

Regular rainfall in Brazil's major coffee-producing regions since October followed a dry spell and helped nourish arabica trees that most growers will start harvesting in June. Output will rise also because the trees are in the better-yielding half of a two-year cycle.

``The normalization of rains since the end of 2007 have brought more favorable conditions for the development of beans,'' the forecasting agency, known as Conab, said in the statement.

The crop would be the biggest since growers harvested 48.5 million bags in 2003.

Stephanie Kinard of JKV Global in Chicago said April 30 that the South American country's coffee production may range from 48 million to 55 million bags. Ricardo Brasil Correa, managing director of Terra Futuros, Brazil's biggest commodities brokerage, said March 7 that output may reach 55 million bags.

Conab said Brazilian farmers will harvest 34.7 million bags of arabica coffee, up from 23.5 million in the past crop. Growers will reap 10.8 million bags of robusta beans, compared with 10.3 million bags last year.

Robusta growers start harvesting as early as April. The harvest for both varieties ends in October. One bag of coffee weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Caminada in Sao Paulo at at ccaminada1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 8, 2008 08:51 EDT