28/03/2023

Partnership between SLC Sementes and Kothe Agro inaugurates the most modern soybean seed processing and storage industry in Latin America

The most modern soybean seed processing and storage industry (IBS) in Latin America was inaugurated on Wednesday (22), at Fazenda Paiaguás (MT), of SLC Agrícola. IBS is the result of a partnership between SLC Sementes – an SLC Agrícola brand – and the company Kothe Agro. The initial processing and storage capacity of the unit is 1 million bags of 200 thousand soybean seeds.

“The proximity of IBS to the end customer results in fast delivery and, above all, a competitive advantage in production costs. We will continue to grow with a focus on product quality and excellence in the provision of services”, states Gustavo Lunardi, director of Supply and Seed Production at SLC Agrícola.

SLC Sementes is an SLC Agrícola brand created in 2018 to provide the Brazilian producer access to soybean and cotton seed varieties with productive potential and quality, combined with the knowledge accumulated over decades of experience and solidity in the Brazilian Cerrado. In the 21/22 harvest, 856 thousand bags of soybean seeds and 116.47 thousand bags of cotton seeds were sold. “The new IBS enables expansion of the volume of seeds offered to the market, as well as the diversification of our portfolio of varieties and service to the entire state of Mato Grosso, in addition to other states”, Lunardi explains.

IBS has modern equipment with embedded technology for 100% automated processes for soybean seed production. In addition, to maintain the quality of the stored product, the air-conditioned chambers maintain the temperature between 12°C and 13°C.

Started in 2022, the project is aligned with SLC Agrícola’s asset light strategy, whose expansion is done through partnerships with the seed processing outsourcing model. At the Fazenda Paiaguás unit, the company entered as a contractor for the processing, storage and shipping services of Kothe Agro for a period of 15 years, in addition to enabling entry of the SLC Sementes brand in the MT market with product quality and competitiveness.

The inauguration took place within the Sementes para o Amanhã [Seeds of tomorrow] event held by SLC Sementes and which featured talks by the CEO of SLC Agrícola, Aurélio Pavinato; the Sales and New Business Manager of SLC Sementes, Ricardo Oliveira; the Seed Production Manager of SLC Agrícola, João Paulo Vanin; and the Director of Agribusiness of Kothe Agro, Paulo Roberto Sobrinho Kothe. The program featured a presentation by the founder and managing partner of Agroconsult, André Pessoa, on the scenarios for the soybean and corn markets in the current harvest and a roundtable discussion on the Soybean Anomaly, with the technical director of Fundação MT, Leandro Zancanaro, and the researcher of Fundação MT, Monica Müller, SLC Sementes.

The event was also attended by SLC Group´s President, Eduardo Logemann; the Director of IR and Investor Relations of SLC Agrícola, Ivo Brum; the Director of Supplies and Seed Production of SLC Agrícola, Gustavo Lunardi, and the Director of Sales and New Business, Aldo Tisott, as well as representatives of the partner companies of SLC Sementes and guests.