Hello everyone, good morning, and welcome to Kepler Weber's 4th Quarter 2023 Results Video Conference. Joining us today are Piero Abbondi, the CEO, Paulo Polezi, CFO and Investor Relations Director, and Bernardo Nogueira, Commercial Director, who will participate exclusively in the Q&A. Please be advised that the presentation is being recorded and translated simultaneously. The translation is available by clicking on the interpretation button. For those listening to the video conference in English, there is the option to mute the original audio in Portuguese. During the company presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode, and ensuing this, we will go on to the question-and-answer session. To pose questions, click on the raised hand icon. When you are announced, a prompt to activate your microphone will appear on the screen, and you must then enable your microphone to ask questions.
We would like to clarify that any statements that may be made during this video conference call regarding Kepler Weber's business projects, operating, and financial targets are forward-looking statements by the company's management, which may and may not occur. Investors should understand that political, macroeconomic, and other operational factors may affect the company's future and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. To open the 4th Quarter 2023 Results Conference call, I will turn the floor over to Piero Abbondi.
Morning everyone, it is a pleasure to be here with you with another earnings result for Kepler. Let's go on to the key highlights. Net revenues reached BRL 502 million in a very robust level, identical to the 4th Quarter 2022, with an accrued amount of BRL 1.5 billion, which ranks the year of 2023 as the second-best year in the company's history.
In the 4th Quarter 2023, we saw a consolidation of the excellent sales that were resumed since July of last year. Our five segments of action presented very good business volume, with a special highlight for ports and terminals and replacements and services. Now, Paulo Polezi will speak about the performance of each segment further ahead. The second highlight was EBITDA that reached BRL 117 million in the 4th Quarter 2023 and BRL 337 million for the full year. The margin of 22.3%, although it is lower than the 4th Quarter 2022, is deemed to be very robust due to the challenges we faced in the first half of the year and overcome during the year. The margin management, with a focus and control of expenses, contributed to the results as well as stabilization of our main raw material, which is steel.
We had robust net income reaching BRL 94 million in the quarter, with a margin of 18.7%, which reinforces our ability to deliver consistent results for shareholders. I would now like to give the floor to Paulo to speak about the different business areas for the 4th quarter.
Thank you, Piero. A good day to all of you. We are on slide 4, and I show you the evolution of our segments. We begin with farms, where we had a good level, invoicing BRL 151.2 million, 1.2% below the 4th quarter 2022. It was the highest in terms of invoicing because of the resumption of sales as of July 2023, with deliveries concentrated between October and December. In agribusiness, we made BRL 198.8 million for the quarter, 4.1% lower than the 4th quarter 2022.
Now, net revenue reached the highest level thanks to investments in storage capacity of cooperatives to face the scarcity of grain storage in Brazil. International business reached revenues of BRL 32.2 million, 28.8% lower than the 4th Quarter 2022 due to the water crisis that impacted the two main markets for exports, Paraguay and Uruguay. Another important market, Colombia, is facing political issues and has led to a reduction in investments, imports, and terminals. We had a revenue of BRL 31.7 million, with a growth of 5.7% vis-à-vis the same period last year. In 2023, Kepler reached success in the segment of ports and terminals thanks to efficient strategies that gave thrust to our operations. Now, if we look at the diversification in all areas of Brazil, this was key for the performance.
And finally, replacement and services, with an increase of 32.8% for the quarter and revenue of BRL 88.3 million. This segment stands out for diversification and resilience when it comes to the price of the commodities vis-à-vis the other segments of the company. Our distribution centers led to increasing the number of clients. R&S was consolidated with the revenues of Procer. The adjusted net revenue, without taking into account Procer, would represent an increase of 5.9% over the 4th Quarter 2022. On slides 5 and 6, we show you projects that were delivered during the quarter, showing what Kepler does domestically and abroad. We have Jataí in the state of Goiás, thanks to the reduction of freight. This unit is close to crops, contributes to the harvest of soybeans, and also helps us to plant our second harvest.
The project of Ulianópolis in the state of Pará is the first full work sold in the region. It is a region for the producers in the region for super storage, not only for the region but also the north of Pará. The Ponta Grossa project in the state of Pará took our client to another level. He was able to increase his level of invoicing, working with a good reception and purchase of grains logistics. On slide number six, you see the Sragen work in Indonesia created to service the demand for animal protein, of course, with silos that are resistant to earthquakes and rusting because it is close to the sea. And then we have, in Colombia, the project El Yopal, which is a KW Max grain dryer in the foreign market. This equipment delivers better quality in grain drying with a lower environmental impact.
On slide number 7, we show you the renewal of our orders in portfolio. We have new strategic supply contracted during the semester, and we have very large orders. In this chart, you can observe that besides the 10 medium and large-sized projects for clients of farms that represent 82 million Reais, we had 5 orders or 37.8 million Reais that came from large cooperatives, 3 orders or 21 million Reais from international projects, and a very relevant work for the port sector of BRL 35.8 million. This shows our capacity in seeking out new projects in all of the segments where we are present, and we see the continuity of positive trends in agribusiness and ports and terminals.
On slide number 8, we show you the EBITDA for the 4th quarter 2023, generating BRL 117.2 million, a margin of 23.3% vis-à-vis an EBITDA of BRL 151.3 million, with a margin of 30.1% in the 4th quarter 2022. For the full year 2023, we generated BRL 336.7 million, with a margin of 22.3%, a highly satisfactory margin considering the challenging first half of the year. Now, what explains the EBITDA are the reasons that also guided our performance during the year: stabilization of the cost of raw material, especially steel, a productive activity in the second half of the year with volume higher than average for the period, a very balanced use of prices, and of course, a control on costs and expenses. On slide number 9, we will speak about our CapEx.
In the 4th Quarter 2023, investments reached BRL 18.4 million, 70% were earmarked for investments in IT. During the quarter, we had BRL 13 million, referring to important strides in the infrastructures of servers in Panambi and Campo Grande. They will allow us a greater data processing stability and security of the operation. We reached BRL 71.4 million in CAPEX for the 4th Quarter for the streamlining of our plants. In slide number 10, you'll see cash and cash equivalents that maintained a relevant level, ending with a robust amount of BRL 355.2 million. Although we have sped up investments in CAPEX and increased the payout of dividends in 2023, net cash also remained high at BRL 160 million in December of 2023. On slide 11, you'll see the liquidity of our shares.
The average volume was 15 million HI in December, and we reached 20 million HI per day, the best daily average trade of our shares. On slide 12, you'll see the return on invested capital that reached 44.2%, a reduction of 59.6 percentage points vis-à-vis the 12 months of 2022. There was an increase of CAPEX in 2023 because of our new painting line and lower prices practiced in the market, leading to a reduction in return on capital but always above what is spent by the sector. In slide 13, you see our complementary dividends and shareholder capital. So we have gone from 62% vis-à-vis 40% in 2022. With this, I would like to conclude the presentation and return the floor to Piero. Thank you very much, Paulo, for the question-and-answer session. I would like to highlight our recent accomplishments and expectations for 2024.
Regarding the accomplishments, we have the performance of Kepler in 2023 vis-à-vis a very challenging scenario, making of us a benchmark. It was the second-best year of our history. The good operational leverage and the management of margins were decisive for a robust EBITDA margin of 23.3% for the quarter. The strong cash generation provided BRL 20 million in dividends to shareholders, and we maintained a very robust net cash. I would also like to mention the turnover of the portfolio in 2023 that returned to normalcy and was higher than the previous year. We also implemented the American Depository Receipts Program. The ticker is available for negotiation since February 24. As prospects for 2024, yes, the positive demand for projects for agribusiness and ports and terminals will continue to be positive and provide good opportunities for future quarters.
The lower pressure on costs of raw material, especially steel, along with gains in scale, will contribute to good profitability for the year. The company remains disciplined with a well-structured strategic direction to build businesses with profitability and sustainable growth. With this, I would like to end the presentation of results for the 4th Quarter 2023. Operator, we may proceed with the Q&A session. Well, thank you.
We will now go on to the question-and-answer session. We remind you that should you wish to pose a question, click on the raise hand button. When you are announced, there will be a prompt to unmute your microphone to be able to pose the question. Those interested in making questions in writing, please use the link available in the chat because of the high number of questions we normally receive.
To be able to answer all of these questions, questions will be grouped together according to topics. If your question is sent after the topic has been discussed, the IR team will send you an answer subsequently by email. The first question is from Ms. Fernanda Urbano from XP. You may proceed, ma'am.
Good morning, everybody, and congratulations for the results. Thank you for taking our question. We have two. First of all, about the demand for 2024. We have seen some concerns for this year because of climate issues that have impacted the margins of producers. If you could give us greater details in terms of demand and what is happening with your orders qualitatively per segment to understand what happens between farms and agribusiness. The second question is about profitability.
In 2023, the EBITDA margin closed at a more normal level, a still very robust level in our vision. What are you expecting for 2024 if you take into account mixed raw material and the prospects for demand? Thank you very much.
Hello, Fernanda. Thank you for the question. Now, to speak about the portfolio, and then I will give the floor to Paulo to speak about profitability. We have been following up on the news, the movement of commodities, and the production of harvests. For the last five years, we have been working for this moment, diversifying business, strengthening ports and terminals. The result of this is that we have a highly diversified portfolio, growing 10%-20% in the segments. This is what we saw in 2023.
The growth of all segments shows us that we will be able to repeat this process of 2023 and 2024. I would like to reinforce your concern about the drought that, of course, will cause pressure on 30% of our business. But on the other hand, we have very favorable winds, which is the scarcity of storage and negative premiums. Although producers have less cash, less ability to invest. We see there will be an appreciation in storage when it comes to making an investment. I will give the floor to Paulo to speak about profitability.
Good morning, Fernanda. Thank you for the question. I would like to divide my question in two parts. We celebrated the margin for the fourth quarter, a very sound margin, a margin that, if compared to 2022, which was an extraordinary year for us, was good.
As a company, we're very proud of the work we carried out in-house in terms of business, capturing orders and bringing diversification in-house. And the 23% EBITDA margin of 2023 converges with all of this. This is how I would like to answer the question, to speak about what we foresee going forward. The first part is what Bernardo mentioned. The portfolio is a somewhat larger portfolio than it was last year. This gives us greater visibility, security that we're beginning the year on the right foot with good volumes in-house. And it helps us to work with margins. Now, to go back to 2022, this truly was an extraordinary year with an EBITDA margin of 30%. 2023 was a year of a return to normalcy.
We had seasonality, a typical first semester, an uptick of pace in the second semester with a close of 23% at the end of the year. Going forward, Fernanda, we see a continuity of the scenario of 2023. Despite some discounts, it is our understanding that we will continue to work with the same levels of profitability that we had in 2023. Of course, slight differences, the impact of mixed somewhat more in agribusiness, but all of this should help us to work with that vertical. Once again, we will attain the same levels of 2023. Thank you.
Thank you. That was very clear. Have a good day.
Our next question is from Andre Mazini from Citibank. You may proceed, Mr. Mazini.
Thank you for taking my questions. The question is a follow-up of the last one.
You said that you are at 30% in terms of your sales to individual people, 30% of your total volume. In 2023, there was a decrease. It was at 22% because of several reasons: credit, confidence, and much more. In 2024, will this return to a historical average? And which is that historical average for individual person companies? The second question refers to the disinvestment that the American government is carrying out in Brazil. Now, the second player of silos in Brazil has publicly disclosed that they are selling their silos in several geographies, including Brazil. This was remarked in the press. Have there been any new developments? Has there been a bid for the portfolio of this American company? And you have 40% share in Brazil as a whole.
I think that your share is high because you are in the south and you have your main plant in Rio Grande do Sul. Would that player's footprint be complementary with you? Do they have a higher share in the north where you don't have a high share? If you could speak about that competitive dynamic between yourselves and the second player. Thank you.
Thank you for the question, Andre. I would like to begin speaking about farmers and their share in our business and expectations for 2024. Then I will give the floor to Piero to continue on with the answer. Farmers, of course, are less capitalized this year vis-à-vis former harvests. This is an extraordinary moment for farmers. It began in the harvest 2020-2021.
Now, to give you a practical response to your question, we see this level decreasing during 2023, but there is stability in our portfolio when it comes to farmers, at least for the year 2023. Our order portfolio for 2024 has grown even with these farmers. I would like to highlight how storage in the last few years has become a true priority. It has always been important, but it has become something critical. This is something that we felt in the last two harvests. We went from 270,000 tons to 300 million tons. I'm sorry. The more professional, more structured farmers look at the harvest that is forthcoming for 2024-2025 as a full harvest, and they are beginning to make investments in storage. I will now give the floor to Piero to speak about GSI.
Well, very well. And thank you, Andre, for the question.
Simply to remark on what Bernardo has already answered, I would like to underscore that throughout the years, Kepler has been working to attain that position of robustness, to be able to face the differences of demand in the different segments. We are present throughout the chain, the producer, the agribusiness, also linked to green energy, biodiesel, animal protein, and the entire chain of exports, ports, and terminals, which is another important part of our Brazilian business, the export of grains and the serviced area. So we have a variety of levers that we can use each year when we see different growth drivers in terms of the rural producer. Of course, they have shrunk to 30%. They used to represent 40% or more percent.
Depending on the year, we have different levers, and ever more we are creating this robustness so that Kepler can work throughout the entire chain and not only on crops. To speak about GSI, we're following up on this closely. We have not heard any novelty in terms of this process. Of course, this is our core business. We're following up very carefully on this when it comes to competition and market coverage. Besides our concern of having a good footprint in all of the segments of the chain, we're also concerned with coverage with the Kepler geographical footprint. We are large companies in several areas, and there's always an area where somebody stands out. So in the last few years, not only now, we have worked towards having a better footprint, better capillarity to face up to these different regions and one-time issues regarding GSI. We're awaiting.
We're following up on this. As soon as we have a novelty, we will update you in the next call. Thank you very much. I would like to end my remarks here.
Well, thank you, Bernardo and Piero. Our next question comes from Alessandro from Graham. You may proceed.
Good morning. First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the results attained in the 4th quarter 2023. Of course, there has been mention of each margin, each increase in revenues that you have been able to build. My question refers to capital allocation. It is the market understanding that net cash could be understood as lack of allocation of the capital. Now, given that, I would like to better understand why you're maintaining the net cash, which is the base of this strategy.
If it would not make sense, considering the net cash to speed up the share buyback that has already been approved but has not truly been executed, or a strategy to increase your indebtedness, create a tax shield, and release an extraordinary payout. So which is your strategy for net cash, and how do you imagine your capital allocation for 2024?
Thank you for the question, Alessandro. It is important to always speak about the capital structure and opportunities. We are quite cautious and careful when we look forward. First of all, I would like to underscore some movements. There is a great discipline when we do this. We're a company with an order portfolio. If we look towards the future, we can understand the movements. This helps us to plan cash and plan our debt levels. Nowadays, we have a very good cash position, lower debt level.
If we go back two years, the company will recall that we had a relevant capital reduction through a subscription bonus. We did have a significant reduction. We worked with a very large package of return for investors. But at the same time, we're executing a sustainable strategy for the growth of business, be it through organic investments, CAPEX programs. In the last three years, we have invested approximately BRL 15 million a year. For the year 2023, we hit a record of investments, BRL 71 million. These are investments in streamlining plants, enhancing capacity, diversification, security, and the IT infrastructure. All of these investments bring us a high return above average. That is why we are investing, allowing the company to continue to grow and face demand.
A second movement that we also carried out, and we have plans to continue with this, was the inorganic opportunity, the M&A of Procer. With digital technology, we're highly satisfied with the operations of Procer. It provided approximately BRL 50 million of our resources. And we do this in an organized way, looking at debt. We want to pay off Procer using our own cash.
Well, in this sense, it is necessary to continue to invest in Kepler.
The market is growing. There are good opportunities before us. We will continue to grow organically, and there are inorganic opportunities that we're considering. Presently, we would like to maintain that cash and net cash position to make the investments that will bring important returns for the company. Of course, Alessandro, we do look at opportunities, the buyback of shares that is part of our pipeline, and the payout of dividends.
Now, the return for shareholders is a priority. This was done in 2023, shareholders' equity, payout of shareholders. And we have to be able to properly manage these two levers. Thank you for the questions.
If you could please hold while we poll for more questions. Please hold while we poll some of the questions that refer to the same topic. We will remain in silence for a few instants. Please hold. Please hold while we poll for more questions. [Foreighn Language] . A few instants more while we poll our questions according to topic. For those interested in fazer perguntas por escrito. For those interested in sending in their questions in writing, please use the link that is available in chat.
Because of the high number of questions we normally receive and to be able to answer all the questions, we're going to group together the questions according to the topics that are announced. So please hold for a few more instances. Our next question comes from Anderson Bezerra, a shareholder, Rodrigo de Campos Queiroz, and John Lynn from the Investment Club, and refers to the outlooks for invoicing.
According to the research of PwC, only 35% of CEOs of the Brazilian agribusiness are projecting a growth of revenues for the coming 12 months. Are you part of that minority, and could you remark on the pace of growth of your R&S revenues? Can we still expect healthy growth for the coming years? Thank you. Thank you, Anderson, Rodrigo, and Cho for the question. Very interesting.
I think we can respond to it objectively that yes, we are part of the minority. We are optimistic for 2024, but there is a robust reason for that. Kepler is not rural producers or harvest-only nowadays. In the past, one-third of our revenues came from rural producers. We have already discussed the dynamics, so we are insisting on having a footprint throughout the entire agribusiness chain, international business, ports, and terminals that will put together exports to agribusiness. We have several fronts. We speak about agribusiness. It seems to be a single front, but there are several, drivers for growth in each front. Yes, of course, this makes our stance of Kepler, a special stance in agribusiness because we are less impacted by fluctuations or the mood of the rural producer. Yes, we are optimistic for the long term.
We truly believe in the Brazilian agribusiness for different reasons. We have already discussed this in different forums. The Brazilian grains, soybeans, and corn will continue to be very important for the growth of the business. So we are quite optimistic for the year 2024. I will give the floor to Bernardo to speak in greater detail about the segments to give you perhaps more visibility in terms of RS and technical assistance.
Thank you. Thank you, Piero. Thank you, Anderson, Rodrigo, and John for the question. I think we have spoken about our strategy that goes from domestic business ports and replacement and services now to delve deeper in R&S. Yes, there is a continuous growth in this segment. We have been investing steadily from we have increased from 5 to 9 in these last 2 years.
This year, we had a growth of 7% in number of client service, reaching 1,370 clients, wherever closer to the farmer and agribusiness. Replacement and services helped us in this proximity. An interesting aspect of replacement and service that began in March with the acquisition of Procer is the digitization of the units. The digitization has two important elements. First of all, to add value to a unit, whether it is new or if it is being refurbished, adding value, helping farmers to preserve grains or to allow the managers to have a more professional management. The second very important element of our strategy is to keep the connection with that client. In Procer, we have a recurrent business of subscriptions for service. Procer grew 200% in 200%, I'm sorry, in 2023.
And we hope that it will grow another 100% in 2024, helping the client throughout the entire journey through this digitization.
Thank you. I would like to ask you to hold while we pull for further questions. Our next question comes from the shareholders Renato Luis Dulce Santos, Kevin Cunha, Claudio Cicchedino, Pedro Egidio, and Ubirajara.
Which will be the dividend policy for 2024 and the investments that you foresee? If you could inform us if there is an estimate for the payment of dividends and the value that will be paid out to shareholders through dividends and equity. Shareholder, will it remain at the level of 40%, 45%? Is your legal reserve of profit complete, or will you have to complement this through net profits? Well, thank you for the question. This is a rather long question, and I will answer it in part.
In the first part, we spoke about our investment plans and what we will do with dividends. And so we do have an important pipeline of investments that we will continue to be making in the company. We should always remember that we have working capital that consumes some of our resources. And our dividend policy, of course, is set forth by the bylaws, and it is approximately 50% of payout. We're going to continue with this. There is no reason not to maintain a robust policy of dividend payout. Now, based on everything that we have said, what we have built for the company, the company has potential to grow a very strong cash generation. And the priority, therefore, is to continue making investment as the projects materialize or not. The surplus, of course, could be paid out in dividends. This year was an example.
We ended up having two additional intermediate payouts of dividends. There is still room if the board wishes to do this to pay out more intermediate dividends. But we do have a significant pipeline of opportunities, and we're going to prioritize our investments. Should we not make investments? It makes economic and financial sense not to have a very high cash structure.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Please hold once again while we pull the questions that refer to the same topic. Please hold once again. Please hold a few more instances while we pull for questions. Please hold once again. Please hold once again. As we are pulling some questions that refer to the same topic, we will remain in silence for a few instances more. Please hold. Please hold once again. Hold a few more instances while we continue to pull for questions. Please hold once again.
Please hold once again. Enquanto coletamos as perguntas. Please hold for a few more instances as we pull for questions. Our next question comes from Mr. Marcelo Azem from Everest Capital Gestão de Recursos about investment.
Which is the company expectation referring to the PROANA project, the program for national storage presented by Senator Paulo Paim. Are you able to comment on what happens with this project at the Senate?
Well, good morning, and thank you for the questions. I will answer part of it, and Piero will answer another part. For those of you who follow up on the company, of course, this is a very good initiative. The timing is perfect at a moment in which we have a scarcity of storage, strangulation in the chain of logistics. This is a very good project for the sector.
We embrace the initiative, and the intention of PROANA is to come with new credit offers besides the PCA lines, mechanisms, and instruments that will increase the offer of credit at very competitive funding rates. We would like to remind you that it is still at an incipient stage in the Congress. It still hasn't been debated in the Congress. We're following up on this closely, and we have great confidence that there will be new incentives for a sector that is very important for the country, which is agribusiness and storage, that adds value for our product, of course, and for exports. Piero, are you participating in these conversations?
Well, thank you, Paulo. Yes. Our responsibility is to follow up on any movements that may impact the sector.
We not only follow up on this issue specifically, but we also follow up on what is called the Plano Safra, the Harvest Plan, and the PCA. We attempt to always contribute with the different government levels, and we do this through our association that, jointly with other producers, the Sectoral Chamber of Storage under the umbrella of ABIMAQ. So we count upon the support of ABIMAQ to help us in this process and to inform us who is leading and defining the general guidance for storage. Simply a comment in the last few years due to pressure on the grain logistic process, we ended up having enormous visibility. We appeared in the national headlines. It's a very technical issue, for the agribusiness sector, for the Ministry of Agriculture, and all of this has appeared in the headlines. It is a significant problem with great visibility.
The Brazilian society should address this, first of all, in terms of the businesses, exports, and secondly, with the food security warranty, which is a very important topic. Please hold while we pull for more questions. For those interested in sending their questions in writing, please use the link available in the chat because of the high number of questions we normally receive. To be able to answer all participants, we are answering the questions by grouping them according to the topic announced. If your question is sent after the topic has been discussed, the IR team will offer you a response through email.
Our next question is from Mr. Caio Araújo, an investor. You may proceed, Mr. Araújo. Senhor Caio, seu microfone está bem? Mr. Araújo, your microphone has been unmuted. You may proceed.
Olá, bom dia. Good morning. Can you hear me?
If you could speak a little louder, if you could increase your sound level, we would be very thankful. Olá, me ouvem? Once again, can you hear me? Olá, pessoal, bom dia.
Good morning. As duas questões. A primeira é com relação a... We have two questions. The first about Procer. I would like to know, which is the percentage of our products that are coming out with this technology and how the actions of the company are divided, and in terms of... Em parceria com o BTG Pactual. Regarding business, which has been the search for the ADRs that have been launched in partnership with BTG Pactual. Oi, Caio. [Foreign Language] ...
Hello, Caio, and thank you for the question. We're very enthusiastic with você. What we expected would happen is already in place.
To answer your question, all of the new Kepler units are offered with this technology embarked, and the clients accepted, put it to use, or can do this subsequently. 53% of the units have come out with this technology already embarked, and there is a sequence of integration for Procer that we are speeding up for 2024. This began in April, May of 2023. We would like to have 70% of the units with this technology embarked or embedded. Another point that I would like to underscore: our strategy with agrointelligence of bringing data for storage is to have broad licensing in new units. We have agreements with other manufacturers that are not Procer, a direct agreement with other manufacturers to embed this technology as well.
Of course, we're always concerned in creating a Chinese wall between what happens among manufacturers, and Procer will continue to be independent because of this reason. A third very important point in the growth of digitization is that we want to reach 50% of the units of Brazil connected. We are at 14.8% of the Brazilian capacity monitored, and to reach that 50%, we have to work strongly with RNS, with refurbishment and streamlining, and beginning in 2024, Procer will be in our distribution centers as well, working very closely with the clients in Luís Eduardo, in Sorriso. We have more than 100 users in our CDs every month, so along with Procer, we're going to speed up the penetration of technology through replacement and services. I will now give the floor to Piero.
Oh, Paulo, I'm sorry. [Foreign Language].
Let's speak about Fiagro and give you an update. We have a fund, a total fund of BRL 300 million available. It is a partnership with the BNDES and BTG Pactual to fund all the part of works, the equipment, and the civil construction. We have a term of 10 years for funding with an important grace period, and all of this is linked to CDI plus the spread. Up to present, we have had very few disbursements in this fund because of the economic issues, the high interest rates, which inhibited us somewhat. We still have important news, important novelties to disclose to you. We have a pipeline of BRL 49 million in orders awaiting funding. The reduction in interest rate has increased the interest of rural producers. Secondly, I would like to make the most of the call to inform you about two important updates.
Two enhancements we were able to incorporate in the fund with the help of BTG. The first, as we were speaking, we have a line of CDI plus spread with variable interest rates, and now our fund will also be able to offer a prefix rate beginning at 14% a year, which is very important because rural producers like something that can be forecast. So, 14% a year for rural producers, something that can already be offered. And a second novelty, not less important, that we're going to offer rates in dollars beginning at 8% a year. So we're setting ourselves aside, and Fiagro will help us with us once again. Thank you for the question.
We would like to ask you to please hold while we pull for more questions. Our next question comes from shareholders Mathias Oliveira and Pedro Egydio regarding the steel price.
Question disseminated by the press: The Brazilian companies that are producing steel would like the federal government to increase the import levies for Chinese steel. Now, if this levy is increased to 20% or 25% as requested, how and when would this impact Kepler cost? And if you can open up this information, if Kepler purchases steel from domestic companies, or is it imported steel, and which are your proportional volumes?
Good morning, and thank you for the question. Now, we're going to speak about how Kepler manages the steel, which is the main component of our products, and we have to speak about this management. First of all, at Kepler, we work with a portfolio to have visibility of the future, and this helps us in planning the supply of raw material, steel, and other raw materials. And because of this, we work on margins.
We know the cost of the raw material of the steel, and we are able to work with profitability to have an efficient price and margin management. This is how we manage what happens with steel. If the steel price increases or drops, we end up having to work with this throughout the months, transferring the increases if the market will allow for this. Now, when it comes to supplies, we do have a very diversified source. We mainly supply from the large national steel suppliers. We also have steel imports from Asia and a variety of countries, and there is a balance. Some steels are not manufactured in Brazil. We end up having to import them, but we do maintain a good communication to have diversification and a good balance when it comes to supplies and management of supplies.
Your second question about the increase of the import levies, out of our control. We follow up on this very closely. We see what is happening, and depending on these scenarios, if this is confirmed or not, Kepler has a very professional management of prices and margins, and steel, of course, is part of this management. If there's an increase in this tax rate or not, all of this will fall within the management that we do.
Thank you for your question once again. The question and answer session ends here. The questions that have not been answered will be answered subsequently through email. We will return the floor to Piero Abbondi for the final remarks for the company.
Very well. We have come to the end of our earnings result call.
I hope that we have been able to respond to your questions and doubts with transparency, and I hope we have shared with you the challenges and what the company has been able to do throughout the years, as well as prospects for 2024. To conclude, I would like to say that 2023 was a year that began with multiple channels, especially for the first half of the year, but at the end, we delivered robust results with an EBITDA of 22%. This was possible for two main reasons. First, our strategy of looking at the entire chain and having a footprint in the entire chain and using levers whenever there is a change of scenario. I think this is something we discussed during the call. The second, more tactical reason is the strong price margin and cost management, as well as expense management.
There was an evolution in this scenario, and the company has positioned itself beginning with steel, the issue of capacity, supply from other suppliers, working on all fronts. With this tactical management, this was only possible thanks to our team with our orange blood. I would like to thank the 1,800 employees that have participated in this management. Each and every one of them is important in the delivery of results. For 2024, we foresee a continuity of 2023, a continuity in the level of EBITDA. We also foresee, as mentioned during the call, great optimism despite the fact that some segments have become more challenging. We do have all of these levers, and we are part of a minority of the companies in agribusiness that have a good prospect for 2024. We're positive about this.
Of course, each year is different, but the team and the company are well prepared to face up to these challenges and, once again, deliver sound results better than 2023. With this, I would once again like to thank you for your attendance, and we hope to see you very shortly in two months for the results call for the first quarter to see what is happening with the year 2024. Thank you very much, and have a good day.
The Kepler Weber Results video conference ends here. Should you have any doubt, please send your question to the IR team through ir.kepler@kepler.com.br. Thank you very much for your attendance, and have a wonderful day.