FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF THE COOPERATIVES OF SANTA CATARINA
The fertilizer market in SC has grown in the last decades. According to official data, our state consumes annually about 900,000 tons of fertilizers. Of this volume approximately one-third (300,000t) passes through the 11 main agricultural cooperatives that are part of Fecoagro. For over 15 years these cooperatives have managed to participate directly in processing of fertilizers, in order to reduce intermediation, and offer fair prices and guaranteed quality to its affiliates.
Many projects to build its own mixer have been developed, however, the low individual volume of consume of each cooperative prevented its implementation. Only by joining the cooperatives together it would be possible to reach a large scale, which would be worth such an investment.
Then there was an innovative alternative: the integration. Based on the state-of-the-art system of cooperatives existing in the United States, Fecoagro put a project together for investment in the fertilizer area, with the participation of the affiliated cooperatives in proportion to their interests and available resources for investment.
We opted for an industrial plant that could support at least 50% of the demand of the cooperatives. The criteria, defined by them, was intended not to stick to just one brand in the market, even if this one brand was the one of the System, because there would be a need for other options for farmers who prefer branded products, and likewise, not to create arguments with the traditional suppliers. The participation of the cooperatives in the venture was established in the proportion to the demand of fertilizers, according to the cooperatives themselves.
The amount of money invested was prorated among the participating cooperatives, using as a calculation basis the consumption share of each one. None of the cooperatives put all the money down at once. The amounts were financed in 12 years, and prorated proportionally according to the share of each cooperative, which is paid at Fecoagro, according to the schedule of payments. In short, after these 12 years of finance, the cooperatives will have the total amount that was invested available or the equivalent amount in participation of the factory´s assets. The cooperatives should have invested, at the end of these 12 years, in form of payment of capital, R$ 12 million. The industrial plant today, with the expansions, has an estimated value of R$ 35 million. This is the valorization of the assets, result of cooperative integration.
The factory of the cooperatives run by Fecoagro has the current capacity of processing 150,000 tons of fertilizers per year. It is already being expanded, where it should, in the next months, double its production capacity and expand, in more than 24 thousand tons, its storage capacity. It will reach 70 thousand static tons.
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