Strategic location of operations, access to several distribution channels, a participatory management structure and good governance practices sustain a strong and viable expansion plan for Algar Agro for the next years.

Based on direct field work with producers which allows it a close analysis of the Brazilian Soybean market, Algar Agro is forecasting that the 2012 harvest will be bigger than 2011. In origination, its efforts will be to maintain the growth seen in the past years. The target is to increase origination by 10%, so as to reach 1.5 million tons of soybeans in 2012, for which more warehousing facilities will be needed. 

The higher volume of origination will allow Algar Agro to increase its participation in both the domestic and export markets. Part of the strategy will be to seek new partners in Europe and principally in Asia, a region with much buying potential and where the Company already has an established relation. In the domestic market, the outlook for 2012 is for growth, mostly in the North and Northeast Regions, which are going to benefit from the new refining plant scheduled to open in the month of May.
The new factory will demand efforts from several areas of the Company, starting with Human Talent, which will have to hire and train local labour. Initially, the refinery will create 45 new direct jobs in the region. Soybean oil production is targeted to increase by 2.5 million boxes in 2012. This increase will reach 5 million in the next years.

The company studied the region’s potential and has designed a detailed marketing plan to increase the market share of the ABC de Minas oil – as well as other products of the brand – in cities in the region, which at present absorb only 10% of production. Also in Maranhão, in accordance with the sustainable vision of diminishing the environmental footprint of the operations, Algar Agro will start the process of renewing the energy matrix.

Investments in 2012 will reach R$ 90 million, of which 23% are in fixed assets, mostly in the state of Maranhão, where plans to improve energy efficiency will absorb a further 13%  of the total; another 14%will be used to finish the building of the refining and bottling plant. Investments in warehouses will also absorb significant amounts, both to expand static capacity (15%) and to substitute warehouses now  leased by the company (15%) in an effort to increase cost efficiency. top