Welcome, those here in presence and those also with us from abroad and foreign. We are broadcasting from YouTube. You can share the link with your friend's club, or wherever you can. The lead in post-harvest in Latin America, I am Evandro Cini, journalist, and TV presenter, and today we'll conduct this talk with our executives, so they can give you the important pieces of information of one more year of Kepler. Before starting, I'd like to say you can place the disclaimer in our screen, so we can make clear that the figures presented-- No, I'm the one to present the disclaimer, so just a second. The presented figures, they are based on current data, so it's very important for you to have access to the pieces of information understanding.
With this in reading form, I would like to talk with the attendee, so I can understand what we are looking regarding information. I like this moment, so we can look people. They look through their mobile, not to be addressed by me, but I'm used, and we are working. The staff she's working. Heloísa. Heloísa. So I'm going to Heloísa. Heloísa? Heloísa, blame your peer afterwards. Heloísa? Heloísa, what's your company? Well, what's the most important information you're looking today in this event? What is important for you to know from the executives?
I would like to know the differential and margin, because it's this company that will sell the breadbasket and not the competitor.
Well, this is an important question for the Q&A. So exercising pressure. Now going to this side of the audience. So what's your name? Mateus. You come from where? Logos Capital. And Mateus, what type of information you are looking for now? Well, I'd like to obtain information regarding sustainability of the business and regarding the company's growth. What makes it different from the, its own competitors? Excellent, Mateus. So now we will talk. Later, we will talk more about it. And I'd like to inform you, this QR code seen on the screen, point your mobile camera to the QR code, and it will open a tab of Q&A, so you can send your doubts there through this resource, and I will get it on my mobile and pass through to the executives. But of course, your participation is very important.
We will take you the mic, so you can share your doubts with us live. Those from us, from far away, you also have a QR code and access and pose your questions. Therefore, we will pose them here. Also, just two words to record this event today. They are on our screen: resilience, consistency, and growth. These three words, they have guided the work of Kepler Weber during the last years. This company that will celebrate in 2025, 100 years. So you will understand further the size of the sturdiness that it's searching for, especially when we talk about consistency in their sustainable development, consistency regarding a good governance in how they treat their own clients, and also the development of its collaborators.
Soon, soon, we will show you those who consume pieces of equip- or pieces of equipment and services provided by Kepler, and also that are the life of this company. So all this will be known by you during this event. And also to talk about a new moment that Kepler is experiencing this last July, because its action, its shares, I'm sorry, are being traded in the Novo Mercado. I would like to invite here to join me on stage, Júlio Toledo Piza, Chairman of Kepler Weber. So, Júlio, welcome. It's a pleasure to have you here with us. You have the floor, Júlio. So it's a pleasant pleasure to have you here and to be here, and those with us through the internet.
So I congratulate you all, and thank you all to be with us here today, especially because this my first job was auxiliary during the trading floor. And that building, 100 meters from here, 16, and we traded cattle and coffee, and after BM&F , and then this building, the pit, trading pit or floor was here beside us for agricultural products, and then this more than 35 years. So we reached this moment, we're seeing the agribusiness company being part of the capital market. So the amount of individuals interested in investors of the highest level to further understand more of Kepler Weber and the sector. So I, as an economist and engineer, I feel honored. So it's very special to be here and see what the agribusiness, the moment it has reached Kepler Weber also, and to be in this place.
So I'm very touched of being here today and sharing all this with you. But going back to Kepler. Kepler went public in 1980. It's almost 100 years old company. I cannot think about other company of this sector, agribusiness, to have such a long history on the market in Brazil, being here, helping the sector and connecting agribusiness with the city since 1980. And now, during this special moment, the company not only went through an interesting change during the last years, and we will further address it later on and share with you. But now, the peak of this, during last week, week migration to the new market, that symbolizes different things. The first interesting thing was that we studied the subject of going to the marketplace. We started, we looked inside. What should we do in-house to change and meet the requirements?
We found almost anything. Very few things we had to do, and the company was already ready, so we didn't have to change. It was at the company for the Novo Mercado. We just had to inform the market and then protocols together with BB. A very interesting process for us, in fact. And during this process of migration to the Novo Mercado this change during the last 5 years during the operational, commercial, financial areas, people will address it later. But governance included. So company today is a corporation, and it has reference shareholders that are very important, but don't have a controlling shareholder. And the process we did during the last 12 months, during this transition to corporation, was a successful case. So we for third-party consultants, and we talked with the shareholders on the basis, understanding, setting up a process of-...
forming the new group for the board, so syndicating the process and strategies of the company, culminating with the election of a board, advisory board, very special, with very skilled people. So this. So we are in the new market. For Kepler, it's beyond this. We are talking about transformation for the governance model, which is very updated, and we will take the company for the next steps during this fantastic journey that has been during the last five years, that we understand what will keep on for a very long time. So I would like to thank you all. Thank you for being here, and let's hear now the executives of the operation. There's a lot of good things to tell you.
Júlio Piza, thank you very much. I will call you back later to answer the questions that will be sent from the audience. Kepler is working with high efficiency in everything that its agribusiness works: as the farm, the agribusiness, ports, and terminals. When we talk about food security, we have the DNA of Kepler behind it, the food security of Brazil, and also outside Brazil, because much of what is produced in Brazilian crops is exported to other countries. Now we'll talk about investment thesis, and we will call now Piero Abbondi, the CEO of Kepler Weber. Welcome, Piero.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. People online, welcome. It's a pleasure to be here and share a little bit of our trajectory over these past years.
Kepler has delivered excellent results this year and over the past years, and this will become the second best year of our history. This is a robust, sustainable company, and over the next hours, we will discuss and present what we are doing. Now, my objective is to show you the pillars of the investment thesis of this development of the company. We have three main pillars. One is the demand for the global demand for food, and the second is Brazil, a global agriculture power. Brazil is more and more a great supplier of this global demand. Last, logistics and infrastructure, where Brazil is positioned. We have a deficit, and Kepler goes right there. We are not investing in logistics, we are part of the logistics, the post-harvest logistics and grain logistics, and needs Kepler to solve that problem.
So we have these three pillars. We will advance and talk about each one of them. Global demand, increase of a middle class, and a higher consumption of protein. So these are the drivers of, of growth in worldwide. So let's talk about growth in population. It was 3 -8 billion, and this demand food. So this is a global trend, of course. And this population, however, has increased their income and has become more and more located in the cities. So we can see the growth of the urban population in relation to the rural population. And we talk about rural exodus. This is not so appropriate, but what has happened from the last century in industrialized countries, and it's happening now in other countries, is that we have an increase of productivity in the field.
The population is migrating to more qualified jobs in the city. So this renders the possibility to have more income and have more quality food. So this is the global chain of supply, and this is where Brazil is located. Just to give you an example, in 2030, we estimate that 3 million people will be part of the middle class, so more poor people will migrate to the middle class. This has happened in the United States and Europe last in the first part of the century, and China is going now. In Brazil is also path into this process. So the increase of income will increase the consumption of protein, of meat, so people will start to consume a higher quality product, and we call this in Brazil this is mistura.
This is a Portuguese word, which is the chicken, the meat or the pork. This is what we call the mistura. So people climb on the protein chain, and this, we have 70 million tons that we had in 60 . Now we have 354 million in 2023. We have here the consumption in different countries. The USA has grown more than 20%. Brazil has quadrupled its consumption, not to mention China. We can see this quite clearly here. Five hundred million people entering the wealthiest population. We have other countries in Asia as well, that will go the same path. Indonesia had 4 kilos, and now they have now 18, so this is demand for food. This increase in population also results in the increase of the consumption of protein.
In order to produce this protein, we have the feeds, which is soybean and corn. This is the base of the growth. Finally, this growth trend in population, we are now at 8 billion, and the World Bank estimates 8.5 billion in 2030. This will increase. This is an increase in population. It will increase more slowly, but will continue to grow. This is where Brazil is located. We are going now to the second thesis. The first one was a global history, and now let's go to the second pillar. This is Brazil. Brazil has become one of the biggest suppliers, and this is where things are happening in the world. We are here showing the main chains, and we have Brazil is first or second or third in the main chains.
We are the biggest, the first soybean producer, more than 50% of the world trade, and so on and so forth. I will not detail everyone, but and from these 12 most important chains, Kepler is present in 10 of them. We are present in all of these 10, first 10, and no doubt, Brazil has an important role in the food role in the world, and we will continue to have that role. So this shows clearly over the past 10 years, the average growth of Brazil in the world, sorry. Brazil has grown 5.50%, but we see here the main producers in the world. Argentina, 1.9%, the USA, 0.6%. Europe has decreased, Ukraine and Russia, that are important players, also decreased, but Russia has here 3.3%.
So Brazil is the one that is capturing this great opportunity in agriculture. And we have this popular culture, and when we see this, the countryside of Brazil is surfing the wave. This is where things are happening. And this has a result in the production of grains. Over the past 3 years, we can also have 10-30 years, we will always have 5% or so. And over the last year, we have 6.7 and 3% of planted areas. And this, we are gaining productivity, yield per planted area. And Kepler is located right here. We are talking about grains like black beans and pinto beans and rice, and also soybean and corn. And this is why Brazil has become such a power in agriculture.
We have seen in black the growth of the first harvest of soybean. We have grown from 40 over the 30 years to 160, and the second is the biggest one, the second harvest. We call this the in-between harvest because it was a small one that was compared, and now corn is becoming the primary harvest here in Brazil. We see many vectors of growth. Planting in the Cerrado region was not possible in the past, but now Embrapa, the Brazilian Agriculture Technology Company, has helped the farmers to plant in the Cerrado. What regulates the planting here in Brazil is the rain season, which is six months long, and according to this rain season, we have different varieties of soybean that we can capture the first and the second crops.
This is the only country in the world that has this type of 2-harvest, 2-crop characteristics, and no other country has this. This is the power that we have here in Brazil. We have a vocation, and we have capture, yield, investment in crops, and the company, Embrapa, that is allowing for this development to happen. Now we talk about the third pillar. Kepler is part of the logistic. We have a deficit in storage, and we have a difficulty in distributing this harvest. So this is the deficit of storage that we have here in Brazil, 129 million tons. So we have this deficit here in Brazil. So this is a calculation here. Our industry, Kepler and competitors, per year, 6 million, they add 6 million static capacity tons of capacity.
In order to close that gap, we would have 20 years. So BRL 400 million is not when it, it is going to happen, and we will have this number growing up. So Bernardo will talk more about the numbers, so we will have another BRL 120 million. So this is not 10 years, it will be 20 years. In order to close that gap in 10 years, I will quote Juscelino Kubitschek. So this is, will be 40 years in 10. It is a 40-year in 10 years plan. So this is not the only question. Let's go deeper in this in detail, because this year we had for the first time, the first crop. We do not have a storage capacity to store the entire first crop.
That means that I have the entire first crop in storage, and I will start the second one. So what do I do? And we have here what the media, the social media also say about this, that we have products that are stored in open air. So we have a loss of quality, loss of yield, and it's a difference, because in the silo, in the bin, it's so automatic. We have the tractor, the trucks. I have a bin in a farm in the state of Mato Grosso, and in some of them, the deficit in storage would lead these farms to put these products in a place that would decrease their quality. We were here, we were rehearsing this, but we are going backwards.
We are starting to put products on bags again, so this is going backwards. So this is loss of yield. We have also the problem with freight, lack of trucks, so we will be storing these products in trucks, and this is very expensive. I was with a farmer, and it's not that you want to sell cheap. There is no truck to distribute this product. So this is the economic problem, and for the first time since 2024, 19 years now, we have a significant deficit in the price of soybean. So we have a significant discounts. Throughout the years, they were small, but now we have a big discounts, and this is money that is being lost. Farmers are losing money, so it comes back to our return to the project, considering the return on investment.
So another reason for the reason to invest. Not to mention food security, because this is not price as well. So we will have an acute volatility of products, so we can have these levels of price more stable now. And where is this deficit now? Now, per region, the South region has a little deficit, the Midwest also, and it will have a storage to distribute it to the big consumption places and to the ports, which is difficult, and also in the Northeast, a smaller deficit, but this is a region that is growing. In terms of where this deficit is located, if we compare to other big producing countries, they have more than 50% of the capacity in the farm, so they harvest and put it on storage.
So Brazil, we have a huge investment to be made to make sure that the grain stay in the origin and then will be distributed to the consumption. And finally, Kepler is located in entire chain, from harvest to the ports, which is a long way, and consumption, Kepler is present in all the segments. And the most beautiful thing here to notice is that we have different drivers that give us sustainability. We are more robust. When we talk about sourcing the farm, we are close to the producers, the farmers, the profitability of the corn and the soybean. So when we go here to ports and terminals, we have many investments to be made in roads, water transportation, and this is about exports and also about consumption. We'll talk about feed, we talk about meat, we talk about oil.
This is consumption related, and this puts our robustness management in a right place because we manage different risk and different drivers. And finally, we have been investing in a big growth vector, and we believe in this. In addition to the growth of the market, which is the digital market, that goes through all these segments, in addition to our core business, which is storage, plant management, which will leverage our business. There are other territories like traceability. Traceability is becoming more and more important, and we are an important link of the chain. So we have these harvesting machines. We have 17,000-18,000 plants, and we go through all this consumption. And with the digital systems, we can also serve this territory, as there are others, like insurance guarantees, which we will explore in the future here of our digital evolution.
Just to recap, global demand, Brazil agriculture and logistics infrastructure, and Kepler is well positioned in this sector. Piero, thank you. Piero will be available to Q&A later. We have some questions coming in from people that are participating. So applause to Piero. Thank you very much. Piero mentioned the direct planting, so we cannot remove the coverage of the soil. So you allow that forest to stain the soil, to leverage the productivity of the that will be coming back. So I will talk about growth factors. I have an interesting list here. We have a market leadership, governance, acknowledgment from customers. We are top of mind in this segment for 22 years, according to Rural Magazine, and there is a word that we will be talking about a lot, which will be the super decade.
The person who will talk about this is Bernardo Nogueira, Commercial Officer of Kepler. The floor is yours.
It's a pleasure to have you here. Satisfaction to be here. So, and talk about, the presentation here, I will show this slide again about the perspectives and the history. The first thing that this graph shows is how the capacity is not following the production speed. So it's clear in 2005, 2000 when we started, 2010, installed capacities be below our production. So I would like to call your attention for the recent moment, 2016, how it was done. In 2016, as Piero mentioned, the farmer would harvest soybeans, store it, then 2-3 months to be traded, or and then he would receive corn. Okay, up to this moment, as Piero mentioned, the rate of return of in storage, 6-7 years.
But when we join a status, as we saw here in 2023, where during the Q1, it's overcome the storage capacity, and it have a, an issue, and you see all the points regarding fleet collapse of the infrastructure. And this point is important because corn, August, September, is far from the ideal, but you can post because not too much rain, cold, but soybean is more sensitive, so you cannot do into January because you have too much rain and heat. And this will result in all these problems. And one additional point, when we or the grower notice this negative premium, what would you do? I will hold back my soybeans to have the positive premium, but he-- they hold back until August, September for harvesting, so it's, it's a snowball.
And when we look, if this happened here with 320 million tons, we see there was a leap here when we look 2016 to date. We say that the storage, it was very necessary for the chain, always as a grower, cooperatives, and it was needed, the storage, and it was necessary for critical. And I stress, this reflects on the payback that was from 7 to 3 years. Some regions in the south Pará, 3 years. Well, now looking forward, the consensus of experts when we look consulting service for projection and budgeting, they say the concept 500 million tons in 2023, repeating what happened during the last tens, and so it's 2033.
So we keep on with the capacity, adding the capacity of the last 10 years during a projection of this, we leave from a critical scenario, and we go for absolute collapse. Millions of tons of soybean without having where to store it, generating more losses, and the ROI from it will go to 6 months. And doing a projection, looking forward, when we talk about super decade, you like when we talk about super decade and the expression used by the John Deere of Brazil, he uses this, so the super decade for storage, likewise, the rope will be tight and negative, negative and stressed, but it will not to worsen. We have to more than double the capacity, store capacity yearly. Therefore, this here reflects a bit our optimism on an overall with the storage segment, especially with Kepler.
Now, looking, Kepler has this absolute leadership position in the market today. It is one-third, approximately, or a size in the second place, so we are top of mind, the longest top-of-mind company in the business, so it's a fantastic place to be. I would like to share with you, where Lou said that beauty, but who guarantees that you will browse this wave on the super decade? How you can guarantee you will be surfing this wave, and be in a leadership position and strengthening during the last ten years. So a bit of what I want to share with you, it starts with a client, and looking it, we have 15,000 active clients in our relationship. We did business with 4,000 clients in 2022. In 2023, we have a growth of clients served in 10%.
This is the outcome of actively going after the market strategy, and the premium here 2022 award, the prizes we were awarded in the Rural Magazine Award, and 36 times the top of mind for the publication range. So the clients, we will take those clients to that visit during the first semester of 2023. So the companies listed here, they were visiting our plants, distribution centers this year, and obviously, they are very important clients. Also reflecting an agronomist like Julio, when I look this list, I say: "Well, SLC, Bonfuturo, and Processing Impasa, Ethanol, the Cooperatives, I love, and even Cargill, they are the most competitive companies worldwide. So they are either exclusive or very close with, with Kepler.
When we talk about company's resilience, who have strong, resilient clients that don't depend on public policy, they capture resources internationally wise, so it's potent clients. So we are with them in this potency. So also, Forbes 100, the biggest companies of the agribusiness in Brazil, it's almost 10% of the GDP in Brazil. This is the size that we are talking about our clients. So now, talking briefly, I would like to earmark 3 minutes for clients to say why they choose Kepler Weber here. Equipment, quality, durability, engineering, which is fantastic. We hear a lot about the punctuality. We're very on time. It's almost like an airline company or business. You have the crop arriving to the trading, the crop, you must be ready for the fifteenth December, and that's it. They believe, and they trust us, we will deliver on time.
So also, this closeness, the stock of silos, they'll be close to clients. We work in remote areas of Brazil, so Roraima, north bounds, down to some south of São Paulo, Paraná, it's not feasible. You must be there offering technical assistance. But before, better than me saying, I quote three clients that will talk with you. Impasa, which is one of the biggest corn ethanol producers. So we have also Copasul, the biggest co-op of Mato Grosso do Sul. These will be three clients. Kepler entered in a very important moment for us, specifically because it was the biggest storage structure that Impasa did. Well, at once, we needed a partner who could be passo a passo with us, so we could be really sure that the plant would happen on time, and the quality we needed.
So Kepler joined us, brought innovations for storage, engineering structure that was strong and credibility, 100 in the market, so we felt very comfortable and safe for this challenge in this 1 million tons of storage. But not only this, but the processing of grains, we had to restructure within a company that had know-how, experience, and delivery capability. So it has been a partner since the beginning of Impasa's operation in Paraguay to date. We have worked strongly in this partnership, given the reliability of the equipment and Kepler's name on the marketplace, which is a trusted and strong name regarding quality and export. So it's important for our, our growth, Coamo, and we saw equipment development, interconnected, automated, and this gives us speed in the process.
I see the speed in discharge, this volume, that equipment was projected for makes the difference today, being, Kepler being valued, delivering this fantastic work with technology, and this brings us, output and results to producers. So we are very, very happy with this work here, modern, up-to-date, compared to what we have in the market, an old project by Kepler and f or Campo Azul, Francisco Pasu, the first unit was set up in a partnership with Kepler. We say that our vendors and suppliers are partners, and the partnership extends not only commercial transaction, but also the technical side. When we decide to install this project here, we had different talks held. We talked both with the engineering sector and commercial sector to render the support for us to do our main idea, which was this smart unit.
It's a start, and Kepler is also providing the full support regarding some demands that we have for the config of pieces of equipment, installing it. It's always at ease, this work with Kepler, due to the long-time relationship, so we are very satisfied with Kepler's work. We have other works with them also, with Kepler standing out due to its expertise, and it's the benchmark we have in the market for storage. Very nice to see this. One of the things I like to do is go to the field and listen to clients. I have 20 years professional history. Nothing is compared to what Kepler has with its relationship with clients. We are close, we have fun, and they trust us. It's something very special.
Now, talking about clients joining the Kepler's team, and I think it's important to see the outlook with more than 473 works delivered in 2022, and all starts with the commercial relationship, visits and understanding what clients need. A fantastic team from Raiane up there with 23 years, up to Vanderlei, with 52 years with Kepler. So diversity, experience we added in this 112 team members. So many years of storage, very experienced and understanding the client and a long-lasting relationship. So it's there are 1,430 years of experience in storage, so it's a relationship that, of trust, that it's we have. So worth saying, highly engaged teams, less than 1.5% of those that left us during 2022, so they're faithful, engaged team.
Then we have the engineering teams, very expert professionals, more than 100 engineers that have sturdiness to the project, as mentioned. Now, going through the plant, Fabian will talk a bit about the team and the plant, a mindset of development, ongoing improvement, Kaizens, all this Fabian will address. Up to the setup of those silos, storage, it had to be set up. It's just like a Lego, 600,000 pieces of standard unit set up on the field with partners, builders, and they follow up to guarantee with the quality that is mentioned and we deem as important. And finally, 1,780, approximately 17,000 years in storage, with a very engaged team, an improvement of the Great Place to Work, saying that Kepler, it's an excellent place to work, certified in 2023.
There's a base, having a motivated, engaged team, committed with what we have; it will reflect in happy customers and clients, as shown in the previous PowerPoint. Then, one second, the film now will show you the process of this relationship with clients from commercial project implementation. So, Júlio is the director and Jean, head in the commercial sector. So Diego. Well, here at Kepler, we care about the big picture. That's why we make a point of setting up all our works, first, to enable customers to focus on their main business, and second, in order that we can guarantee a proper assembly throughout the construction, guarantee a suitable and safe construction. That's why we built a business partners throughout Brazil, so we can set up 300 works simultaneously with quality and different sizes. Many of the business partners are exclusive rendering service just for Kepler.
Thinking about adding value in service, since 2021, we have developed a new solution that we call 360-degree, where clients entrust us with the construction of the whole project, and we manage from civil works until delivery integrated. So it's an end-to-end. So it's a business model, the end-to-end solution of all the disciplines involved in the building of the storage unit. For this purpose, we must have a robust engineering that is capable of serving the execution of the project. At the same time, we are developing the innovation of new products, so giving to clients more safety on the unit and compliant with all standards applicable. So we are accompanying a long-lasting relationship. For this, we must be close to our clients. In this case, we have done the proximity through several events of fairs.
Today, this year, we had more than 27 trade fairs throughout Brazil and also events in our Panambi and Campo Grande plants, and some of our distribution centers throughout Brazil. Very well. So moving forward, some of our clients, so the team's catering for these clients. The last point of my presentation, it's about the development, evolution of Kepler. We will be 100 years old in 2025, and we are ongoing, developing, growing. So we talk about our distribution centers and the closeness of, we start with 1, now it's 8, and we will keep on growing close to clients, delivering the spare part when clients need on time. It's, we also call development centers. So we are offering training for labor of our clients there, and this is a huge added value, because it's a, it's a problem for many in Brazil.
Another point that Diego mentioned, which is the development of exclusive builders, so ever-evolving Kepler journey with more than 44 today, with 1,500 individuals working to guarantee on time safety when we deliver work. A strategical development, very important. So an example of marketing, which is digital, to access clients digitally wise, so they come. And here we're talking about business generated BRL 8,000,264 last year. This year, with BRL 458 million AIs of generated business that entered digitally wise. And this is important for two reasons. The first one is coverage. Today, we have we participate of 70% of business in storage in Brazil. We are part, we have a strong digital presence, food for thought in a good sense. Digitally wise, we can increase this, and we see here the figures, and the second point is efficiency.
The commercial areas that receive a lead from a client, from a digital pit, we can do more with less, less. So the cost of accessing clients with this is reduced. The next point is connected units, and between brackets, talking about this evolution, that it's something out of this world. For me, one of the most important things happening in our segment today, especially for Kepler. So we have connected units strategy. We started in 2009, we moved forward, and we had this leap in 2023 with the acquisition of Procer, and we leaped for 1,000 units connected. Here, a parallel with, like a physician diagnosis, where you go to the physician, he would hit your knee, do an X-ray, but today, many-
Apple Watch.
Apple Watch, monitoring, sleep, walking. So this intelligence that it brings, this is the development we see on the storage segments, segment from the 50s, 60s, 70s and joining the 21st century in full speed. Now, talking a bit what we see, these are the 1,700 connected units. Yesterday, we were talking with Julio, it's where agricultural production in Brazil takes place. You see the failure in we have Pantanal, Mato Grosso do Sul, where the farming happened, and we have connected units, and the value of this is-
And then everything starts, which is the core of our business of this 170,000 units, is to help customers to lose less, to in excess of dry, in or excess of humidity, so the care with the grain. So these units help us to take care of their safe, of their production. The second point that has been developed more analog, and now, and according to our world map schedule for digital development, is to have a predictive sales. So if I have 1,700 units, and I realize that 200 of them are full, so these are the guys that I will call to offer an expansion. So it's like, Gmail. So if you write something on the Internet, you will receive an email on that. And here, it's a remote diagnostic.
We have a concentration of heat in many storage bins, and maybe this is due to the cleaning of the grain. And maybe we can provide training to improve the cleaning process, not to result in this heat. So this is predictive diagnosis. And the fourth, which is the e-commerce spare parts. So how many tons have been through a certain unit? So we have a wear and tear of parts. It's like a car. So we do not open the hood of a car anymore to diagnose this. We have all the equipment, and we can do this by e-commerce very efficiently. And last, we talk about data. We have some arrangements and discussions going on. When we have our production, our yield is known.
We compare to the past, the soybean, the corn, if we can work this in a smart way, protecting all the data protection laws and confidentiality. We still have value to create. Transparency is important as well, and this can increase the flow of the financial industry and et cetera. Let's get back here on the slide. So this is what I wanna share with you. This is another video to understand Procer. We had an acquisition in March. We have here Eduardo and Murilo, two of three shareholders of Procer, and they will explain to us their day-to-day activities. Procer was literally the result of a dream. In 2011, I had the dream of this company to operate in the area of grain storage management, with software and hardware technology to manage units.
Procer solutions are mainly focused on monitoring and controlling the grains that are stored in the unit, through a system that measures the temperature and the conditions of the grain, and provides us with the best conditions for the quality to be preserved. Talking about the synergy between Kepler and Procer is easy, because both companies are market leaders to provide a full-fledged solution to the customer, offer technological machines and software. So we have developed, a piece of equipment that has a software interface, and the purpose here is to create profitability, generate return for our customers. And one of the main pillars of our company is the provision of advisory grain storage services, which is customer success, that we call.
So we have a team that is specialized in the monitoring of the grain, that is going closely with the customer to identify risky situations and the best practice for their storage solutions, and to keep the quality for as long as possible. And this strengthens the principles of our company, which is to take care of the customer's grain as if it were ours. Over here. Just to conclude here, that this is the summary of what we have talked here. So clearly, this is a super decade for the agribusiness and for storage as well. And we are confident that we will keep this leading position, and we will strengthen this leading position. So this is the three pillars to have our customers served, have an engaged and efficient team, and last, a business that is in constant evolution. Applause to Bernardo Nogueira, commercial officer.
So let's go to the next slide. We talked about the investment phases and why we talk about super decade, and how Kepler is preparing for this. We have the QR code for questions, and then we will have the other officers to provide important data for us. I would like to hear from the audience here if we have any questions for our executives. I will have a question from the audience here, and then we will also take a look in the questions that are arriving from remote locations. So let me go there as our officers get here. Júlio Toledo Piza here, Piero Abbondi, we will have a panel with these people, Bernardo Nogueira, Paulo Polezi, which is the CFO, and Fabiano Schneider, Product and Industrial Officer. So you are all invited to come to the stage.
So let me go up there to have that question there. Sorry. Excuse me here. So let's go then. What's your name? Érico. My name is Érico. I'm an individual investor. So please pose your question. My question is specifically to Bernardo regarding the search of the company to reduce these services and open these distribution centers. Services is clear to me, but I want to understand specifically distribution center for parts. I have taken a look in the parts that are available online. I am not an engineer, but you correct me if I'm wrong, but there are parts that I don't see any replacements, there are specific parts there. So we go from distribution center in 2017 to 8 now. So I want to understand, before you have distribution center, where would the customer get that part?
So, the income will increase if you have more distribution centers. I know that these are expensive, to build these new distribution centers, and I want to know about the specific parts, and I also see that there are other parts that you can get somewhere else, like, bearings, pumps, electric, motors, and so on and so forth. So how can you improve this, and how increasing the distribution centers will, improve your efficiency? Because it will be easier for customers to get them, right? It's an excellent question, and it is a constant concern that we have to see where the distribution centers are located. We'll, I'll be objective in my answer. Some of our parts are specific of Kepler, and some of others we can use in other units.
But we also have 50% of the installed park in Brazil is Kepler's. So people would get the part in Panambi, it would take three days to deliver, to ship it, or they would go to a local, a workshop to adapt that part. So this is the first point. When we look to a distribution center, we have a map of Brazil with all the storage units, so we can identify the demand of units in order to establish the distribution center. So we have a perimeter of five or six hours for the client to receive the part. So this is the rationale. Regarding cost, the concern is the cost effectiveness, and we are looking to this with attention, and soon we will provide information on this.
Kepler has the privilege of being the central point, so the central place where you get everything. So when you think about post-harvest, we will think about Kepler, the main structure, and then you go to accessories like balances and other aspects of the unit. So we are starting discussions with these other accessories that make sense to customers, so they can think of one place to go, so they can share their cost, and we reduce our cost to access the customer to make our operations even more efficient. I would like to make a comment, Piero, if you allow me. So these are exclusive parts, as you mentioned. Yes, but relatively, because there is a parallel market. If you see the car automakers, they have their own parts, but they also have the parallel market.
So if we don't do the part, someone else will do this part. So they will copy locally and do this. And this, we are trying to do is bring this demand to us, and for specific parts, we want to increase the resale. So it's important to think of the parallel market. And also, we have a distribution center with two main strategies. One is to capture this market of parts, and the other is not important to set a flag, because we had a low coverage there in Paragominas, a city there, and we increased new sales in that place. So we have new negotiations in Soure, Balsas, these are cities in Brazil, and we have negotiations there. We'll open a distribution center there in your city. I will not give you a discount, but you can save on the freight. Another question from the audience.
My name is Charles. I am from the HB Capital, and I want to talk about the commercial presentation. I would like to understand the strategic planning logic, how you understand new markets. The acquisition of Procer may have started an interesting process at Kepler, monitoring of the storage bins, information that is important for the financial market. So do you have these conversations internally as a new market? And we also have a 3tentos, it's a company that you have a partnership, so is that something that is in the company agenda? Yes, I will answer. It's an excellent question, and we are working on the next cycles. So if we look over the past five years, we have worked on sustainability, and we have delivered excellent results to build a robust company. So we have seen where is the growth?
So we have a clear vectors. The first is market. It's an absurd potential market, and it's up to us to transform this market into demand, like investment funds, storage bins for rental, and many things. And the second vector is the added value equipment for post-harvest operations. For the downstream chain, we go closer to consumption, which is different from the view of the consumer, because consumer used to the crop. So we have value added to many types of beans, like coffee, improvement, and of many other grains, because we have machines that can be introduced in our portfolio. An example, we acquired Seletron, a company and a brand, and also their projects, and we are now selling. It's not that we are doing a business case.
I think we will sell BRL 20 million this year, because these are grain selecting digital equipment. So we have a 360 photo. So if the seed is irregular or too green, we take it out. So we are advancing on this digital. This is not about form or color, we will also have oil content, protein content, we will measure this. So we have the platform, and we will introduce it. And last, the digital. Yes, we are looking into growth opportunities, organic, internal projects, and also inorganic, to acquire companies that will increase our speed in this process. Procer was one, and there are others that we are considering. We have a meeting of the board coming soon to define the next steps for the next three years, and to have a good growth over the next years.
Your name, please?
Shin.
Pose your question, please.
My name is Shin from Trigo. I was curious about Bernardo, what you said about digital marketing. I want to understand more about the leads. I thought it was interesting about gathering customer. So maybe we have the idea that the agribusiness is not digital. So I want to understand the digital leaders in this marketing strategy to have more customers, decreasing costs, and how you can decrease costs by having digital customers. Yes, we are in love with this subject, so I want to talk about this. We can talk; it's a summary, but we can talk about this later, if you want. So we have 15,000 customers in our databases, and we are evolving on the organization of this database, in order to have a constant relationship with this customer.
And until 2022, we will not make customer messages sent to customers, to potential customers, direct customers, the moments of the harvest, the PCA. So be engaged with the customer, it's important because we want to be seen and to be remembered by the entire chain. And again, with a significant information and proactively. So this is a good evolution, and I'm so happy, because in 2022, we also entered the Agrofy, the Orbi. We are the only storage company in the Orbi, which is the fidelity tool with more than 100,000 farmers. So this is the idea, to be where the customer is, working proactively and synchronized with their lives. So if you have a crop, soybean, to be synchronized, synchronized with these customers.
I have a question on marketing now by Gustavo Pusch. What is the business strategy to convince farmers to invest in, in storage bins?
Nothing better when they feel on their pockets. And I mentioned, now we went from a situation where storage was necessary, and now it's critical. And in practice, what we are saying is that, farmer would come to us, "no, let's send to the cooperative." So the cooperative was saying: "No, I don't have any storage place anymore." They have a, farmers have a list of priorities, the neighbor is the first priority, and then you go down the list, and then the last would be to buy an apartment in the beach. And in the middle, you see storage. As we notice, the demand that we have, this type of thing has increased, so storage is going up the list.
Our work is to be present, to be near, and to make this process as fast as possible.
Now, one more question, and recalling by the end of the next two presentations by Paulo and Fabienne, we will have a round of talks. If you cannot pose your question now, not a problem, we will have more time for this. So what's your name, please? Well, good morning, Fernanda. Fernanda, welcome. Congratulations for the event. You showed during the presentation a map, static capacity per region. Could you address further, how do you see the demand by region, especially on the Midwest and South? And do you feel any impact due to the El Niño? Was it taken into account? Well, we'll start and ask the help from those in the know here. That map is fantastic, it's Brazil's agricultural sector. 70% of it 20, 30 years ago, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and it went upwards.
Kepler, likewise, in 2022, Mato Grosso was the biggest state for Kepler Weber, first time ever. So we are following the development of agro. And talk about climate factors. When we think about resilience of a company, we leaped from, in the category, becoming more resilient due to this increase La Niña, devastated Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul during the last years with drought, very stressful, and it not affect our sales because we had a mitigation in the north of Brazil, Mato Grosso, and so forth. Now, answering your question regarding El Niño. El Niño, traditionally, it brings a lot of rainfall to the south, and we just saw this during the last weekend, and a period of more drought, Bahia, and we have to pay more attention. And Mato Grosso, does not interfere that much.
A bit more rainfall, but it's not too big the interference. So thinking about perhaps sales of next year, we will see growers more contracted, and in the north, and the speed up in the south. The resilience, because we have the models shared amongst different baskets in Brazil. When we talk about Matopiba, Maranhão, Tocantins, Bahia, especially region where the farmers and agriculturists developing this region. The next one, Guilherme. So it's Matopiba. So, Guilherme, please take the floor. Well, when you mention the quality of Kepler reflecting this in the price, because there's a premium for quality, right? And the deficit of storage concentrating in small and medium producers, how can you convince the small and medium to buy Kepler with a higher premium, higher price compared to competitors? I start, then you jump in, okay?
Well, I'd just like to know, get the last question, stressing that this year, PCA record with BRL 6.6 billion. So we have seen that in spite of being more stuck at the beginning of the year, plan is coming, and the grower is more enthusiastic and willing to buy in all regions. And going specifically, why the small producer will buy Kepler? Well, let's think about two segments. One, of the cooperatives industry, agribusinesses that buy more professionally wise, where they will go as Bernardo with engineering and procurement areas, supply, classic business to business. As for rural growers, also quality, but a lot of reputation and referral by the friend, the neighbor, and the story goes. And I would like to talk further about Kepler's history.
We started inland, Rio Grande do Sul, northeast area, where we had the first commercial soybean crop. From then onwards, Brazil agriculture has had some interesting factors, historical ones, in fact. Rio Grande do Sul was cropland with German, Italian growers that came to Brazil and has grown a bit, the family. With seven hectares, they could not keep up their family, so they went to Paraná, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, so Matopiba. This is CTGs. In addition, Gaúcho, those who were born in this area, we call Gaúcho. That's the center. We have so many CTGs in Mato Grosso because they went northbound. We have rural growers there, they had their grandparents and said, "My grandparents bought Kepler." We top of mind, 23 years was due to this. This is a brand benchmark.
Now we have to keep brand building and deliverables. The rural growers, the thing they do, it's plant, it's harvest, cropping. It's not civil works and set up a plant and operate. We must help these farmers to do this. Good deliverables, an advantage that make clear. Notice, we will keep our competitive edge that we have today regarding our competitors. That answers a bit the question of this morning: How do you think of facing competitors? It's an answer how we want to move forward during the next years and keep, in fact, moving forward. And with technology and products, and Fabiano Schneider will come to talk a bit further to us. It's part of the presentation. We have time for one more question this side. Please, your name, from where are you? Well, good morning. Carol of Banco Safra. First, congratulations for the event.
Very important for us to be part of this time and the next decade, the super decade. So I would like to further understand. I know in Brazil, we see, in fact, that we will have lots of work to do and to get a payback, so we must increase our storage capacity. But what's your expectation regarding the foreign market? Today, you have a stake, more than, more than 50 countries, a huge market share in Latin America. So can you expect about this market, please? Well, fantastic, Charles. I say normally that we have a focused interest in the foreign market, and we foster also the accountable of this area. We have a management department in centers, and I say it's the most difficult work within Kepler because the Brazilian market is so pungent, it's difficult to look at work in Indonesia, Africa.
So it is truly a challenge for the organization, but we have a view there. We are Latin American leaders, Paraguay, Uruguay, absolute leadership of Kepler and also Procer units connected throughout Latin America. Important to stress this. And also, we did some investments this year in Africa. We had trips, trade fairs to Angola and the agricultural region of Africa. And we are paying attention and acting strongly on the international business because it's one more basket. We say Brazil, two baskets, north and south regions with different business, always thinking about resilience, and its international business is an important part of all this. Júlio, before going to the next segment, I would like to share with you a bit about my experience during the last 15 years, and the investors, what they say, and traded companies, so no segments of the agribusiness.
A doubt that always is mentioned, it's about the cycle, especially a company like Kepler, capital goods. There's a part of investors when they are buying at the high, and what's happening afterwards, it is apprehensive, it's natural. So sharing with you how I see this in a nutshell. Well, first, Kepler has this challenge. We are the only company of the subsector that's traded in the stock exchange. So it's one. If you study bank, banks, you can have 15 to buy, but storage, it's just Kepler. We're the only ones. So sharing with you how we see things, and perhaps it's easier for you to think about investing in Kepler. Kepler, last year, and when we look last year, Kepler had violent cycles of ups and downs and reach also with a request with composition with creditors in...
So most of this group in the company management in during 2007 and 2008, and there are several things that happened on how to become more resilient. So demand point of view, everybody heard it, the previous deductions throughout the year, seeing it show the importance of storage and favor the paybacks. So demand seems to be strong as added. And macro trends in trends, in micro, the corn ethanol that's growing, skyrocketing, it multiplies the need of storage because the corn ethanol plant runs throughout the year in excess of the new, on the lowlands, only during September, so they have to have inventory through the whole year. So changing a bit dynamics of the market with more granularity. On the demand side, it's we're quite safe.
Now, not thinking about demand, which is exogenous of the company, but we think about inside our company, several initiatives during the last 5, 6 years, that takes us to a very different situation from industrial, with Fabiano, with processes, lean manufacturing, reduction, reducing manufacturing cost, making you are capable of dealing with market variations and fixed cost efficiency use. So drop in volumes are better absorbed by the company. And then you have in the commercial area, a segmentation, which is more precise regarding clients. So if we look with all the uncertainties and doubts regarding elections last semester, it was clear that this was year we started with producers that were more idle. So we turned the tide and say, "Let's talk with the agribusiness," but not with tax identification numbers, just a number to say so. So we are capable of dosing this.
So we looked a bit regarding services replacement, and we created today revenue, representing 60% of what was the total revenues of Kepler 65 years ago. So it changes the company. It is revenues with more recurrence. So then you go regarding financial side, the company, we have an exclusive fund created where it participates in a subordinated quota, with all subscribed by BNDES, Development Bank of Brazil. Of course, with Selic at 13%, something is more complicated, but then you accommodate things, but there are new forms of funding for produce growers that will increase, improve cycle effects, and then you have new products and services that are digital-wises, and then it's in... There are two. Just to make clear, Kepler today is quite different from the one 5 years ago, that was quite different from the Keplers of 10 years ago.
It's a different company, less dependent of cycles. I would just add that perhaps of one of the cycles mentioned that we was, that was investments, and today we have a, a discipline in investment in CapEx that help Paulo helps us on the board. Very well done. CapEx is an action that we take care fully and carefully because we have to uphold it, and we have to invest to be profitable and income. Bernardo Nogueira, Júlio, thank you for the time being, and Fabiano Schneider, remain with us on stage. The first, next mission is yours. Now we are talking about a company that starts in Rio Grande do Sul, and we have to hear a bit on the stage, your accent, while speaking Portuguese. Portuguese, I'm sorry.
Fabiano Schneider, Industrial and Product Director, and he will tell a bit the development of new products, new technologies, offering more substance for your arguments regarding the next section of Q&A beyond. In addition to Fabiano Schneider, we will have figures by Kepler and with Paulo Polezi, CFO. So a round of applause for Fabiano. Welcome. Well, good morning... I will start talking about operational efficiency. I could start, I would like to talk about our guiding lines and our motto. Everything we do, it's a noble purpose, which is connected with food safety chain. Everything we do regarding efficiency is related to our purpose, it is done by those processes and operations which are quite well defined. And we will run throughout this presentation talking about these elements, and I will structure them when you will see during the process in three pillars.
One will address products, others will be talking about investments we have done, the line we follow within our process, and then about, about the outcomes that we have obtained with this. So this work is fostering a safe environment, sustainability of business focus on the Industry 4.0, innovation in processes, automation of systems, digitalization in manufacturing, lean manufacturing, addressed by Júlio, which was a great step we did in the company. The issue regarding continuous improvement related with culture, we can change, do better, so this is a process very strong in our company, especially our customer focus, which is the reason of our existence.
Now, talking a bit, when we say product, Kepler now has a new crop of products, and this new crop of products, it's linked to a new development philosophy, which is LPPD, Lean Product Development Process, quite disclosed and used on the automotive industry, and we brought this into our process because we understand that it generates visibility of the whole chain. We can involve all the players in this process, from the internal process and phases of our internal process, but especially here in the market, seeing trends and listening our clients to truly develop products that will meet their needs. And with this, we can have a different product, and clients can notice this, as we mentioned previously. And now talking a bit and addressing some things we are launching now.
This year, we have a landmark, quite important in Brazil, which was the creation of a first silo dimensioning standard. Up till then, all that existed and were enforced and were abroad and we lacked consensus, so we created ABNT NBR 17066, governing silo dimension. We are very proud of being part of this and being the main players in the creation of this standard and process. One of the outcomes of this new process is our new line of silos, meeting and complying with this standard recently approved. As said, Bernardo mentioned a bit the expertise of our engineering with lots of study, materials assessment, simulation. So we reached a new line of products, with its 6.7 more resistant than the previous line.
Greater resistance and its production generate 4.2 less CO2 emissions to manufacture the silos during our process. With this, we are also bringing more safety and automation of processes. We incorporated some elements and improved others of this product, where we work strongly, thermometry, humidity sensors, CO2 and volumetric sensors that basically increase the automation, control, and level of information that clients can have handheld, and also aid convert it into something bigger. They can leave their grain in the equipment for a longer time than normally it would be done, without affecting grain's quality and process. Additionally, this product is quite cool that we just launched. Outcome of this new crop is sweeping spread. It cleans the bottom of silos by the end of discharging process, it cleans by the end.
And we brought to this new product, a technology where we increase safety of the operation and eliminate confined space. So those handling, operating the silo is no longer needed to enter the silo as the older equipment would require. And some already, still being used, that individuals must enter the silo in order to connect the equipment and generate confined space. This new equipment simply eliminated this need. So spring sweep screw, and we have applied for the patent, and we have more to do, 24 patents approved for product development, which is a point that calls one attention regarding our company. There's one more that is being applied for the patent. Now, going to another product, which is the dryer.
We have launched recently the KW Max, which is a product that we were able to achieve by engineering and studies with customers. We were able to bring electrical efficiency that is 11% less than the previous equipment. Thermal efficiency of approximately 28% better, so with less needs for biomass to generate the heat for which the equipment is proposed, and also 28% reduced emissions of CO2. We have here an interesting number. Only one piece of equipment, only one cycle of the crop will generate less 271 tons of CO2. Only one piece of equipment in one crop, one harvest. This shows how we can evolve and grow in terms of technology, automation, and safety of our process, and also contributing to the environment. Now let's continue and talk about investments.
How we have conducted this investment issue in the company. Our company, now can do within, little incremental investments, we are able to increase our efficiency in the process and also increase our capacity to absorb, new demands or a higher volume of the market. In addition, we have a focus, Paulo will show this later. We are focused on the yield of our process and also the initiatives of Industry 4.0, because we are looking for performance in the physical processes. So here we have an example of how we have evolved in terms of automation, some of our initiatives that are linked to the industry, Industry 4.0. So we have a robot, a laser machine, simulation software, and also a high number of connected machines that make our decision-making process easier when we have the problem.
So this will make the resumption easier and also decrease costs. We also have one of the main products, which is a new painting process, a new line of paint that we are starting over the past two weeks in the Panambi units. That completely changes our process, the way, how we paint our parts in our process, and see how interesting this is in terms of environmental impact. We have a significant reduction of our, CO2, consumption of energy, effluent generation. All of this is connected with the previous process, so the final product quality increases exponentially because we have a better finish of the product and also greater corrosion resistance. And when we talk about technology, it is a line that is connected to our plants management system that can monitor in real time what is going on, the problems, et cetera.
This increases also. We also have a decrease in the waste of paint. We would have a 60% of ink loss according to the process that we have, and now we have, at most 5%. So it increases our process and reduces costs, and we also have a significant gain in yield. Now, I will show you here to illustrate all the investments that we are making, so you can have a notion. Continuously evolving with important investments in Industry 4.0. Autonomous vehicles, efficiency and safety in the handling of raw materials. New painting line, less 40% in CO2 emissions, less 26% reduction in energy consumption. Collaborative robots, 50% jump in productivity in the welding sector. Part handling robots, 46% higher productivity. Automation of steel cutting and bending, twenty percent gain in productivity.
A little bit of the third pillar. Now we'll talk about the third pillar. So we talked about product development, how we conduct and the benefits of investments, and how it translates into practice. So what are the results? In terms of productivity, we are evolving significantly over the past years, and part of that is due to the lean process that we have implemented throughout the company with an expressive gain in productivity and reducing losses and waste. And this reflect in our productivity, delivery, punctuality. We have evolved on this aspect as well. We are almost perfect on this, and this reflects what Bernardo said. So the issue of how many customers acknowledge that, and that the company will deliver at the time they need. So we have a timing, we must be accurate on this.
We have also increased our efficiency in reducing waste, so when we look at scrap reduction. So from 2021 to 2022, we have a reduction of more than 200 tons of scrap of steel, that we have an improvement, which is significant in our day-to-day activities. And our Kaizen, sorry, which are the projects of internal improvements that our own team they will suggest and will implement throughout the processes, and this has grown, most importantly in our processes. And also, we also have the issue of efficiency of results, but always focused on sustainability.
So we continue to evolve and reducing CO₂ emissions, and we are talking about what we create within the company, electricity, we are working on that as well, water consumption, and we also are evolving in the amount of energy that we are producing from renewable sources. So these are initiatives that in addition to the results, they are also connected with sustainability of all processes. Now, to illustrate this to you, this process, we will provide you with a video now of our Compliance Officer and Legal Officers, Karina Ozzetti, and also Miss Lara, which is a management manager, will talk about this more in detail. The base of the model of the model of Kepler is based on a strategic plan and a robust culture.
We have a team of 140 leaders that develop the strategy of the company on a day-to-day basis with a clear agenda, plans. Leadership will work with their teams, with the management programs that are designed for that purpose. So we have a performance management plan and the management and leadership program, and also the talent recognition program, whereby we identify the talents of the company. And this is showing our engagement research, where we have a growth of 4%, which has led us to an engagement index of 82%, which gives us proud and lead us and show us that we are on the right path on the people development. And this positions us as one of the best companies to work in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
As the first corporate governance project, we had the structured governance assessment using a third-party assessment team, and we had many benefits for the company, that it is engaging the board of directors, investors. This engagement between the board of directors and the shareholders was proposed for the shareholders meeting of 2023, and has increased the governance of the company. As Kepler is a corporation, we do not have a controlling shareholder, and we have a pulverized shareholding. The more that we are closer to investors, the better our governance will be, which is critical for us. Going to the Novo Mercado, the new markets of Brazil, being listed there is significant for us because it shows that we are ethical, and sustainability is the base of our business.
The more we grow, the more we help to help the world, to feed the world by grains, and this will have an impact on food safety and the food security in the, in the future. Fabiano, thank you very much. We'll be back soon for another Q&A session. So let's go and show you some numbers now. Paulo Polezi, the CFO of the company, will explain all the investments and the numbers that we will present to you in 2023. So applause to Paulo Polezi. Paulo, you have the floor now. It's a pleasure to be here... It's quite a responsibility to talk about numbers, so many stories and important details that you provided. Júlio went out for a second, but I will be here talking to you.
He was quite emotional when we talked about the past, and I also get emotional, because I have been working for this company for three years, and I have never attended our Investor Day. So I would like to congratulate the team here, the controllership, everyone involved, the officers, all the partners. The first event was remote, online. We had cameras on the studio, so it's difficult for us, and after three years, we are here face to face with people. We have quite a crowd here, analysts, investors, so I am grateful for this confidence. So I'm a bit emotional here, but let's move on and talk about the numbers and translating to numbers, all this story of the company.
I am a financial officer for the company, and we want to support the growth of the business to help the areas to make the best decisions. We had partnerships within the company in the most diverse areas. I have five pillars that I represent here in silos, and we are focused on financial areas and for people who need the data and the numbers that are following the company. So let's talk about each one of them. The first silo, which is the simplicity of the company. I have a series of from 2016, and I explain later why this is the date. We could have elected other periods. And we are a company specialized in the market, so two messages that we convey here in this slide. We have drivers here.
We have a volatility in the H1 of the year, so we are focusing on the agro-industries, and over the past years, we had a more significant role that we call, farms, that we had a higher level on this. The first message, if we look here to 2016, international business is 26%. So we show that we can have this discipline, this vision that we have, a statistic data. With this data analysis, will allow us to protect the business in times of volatility. The second is to talk about the RS, which is, parts and services that started small, 8%, and now we are at 14%. It's an important target, but it's a 14 of a business that has more than doubled, so partners and services are important for us.
So let's pay attention to this diversification of the business, and maybe over the next months, we can have more colorful, bars here to show that our company is diversifying. The next one, we'll talk about margins. We also have a series from 2016, and the most important message here is that we have reached a historical level. Obviously, 2022 was an exceptional year. We could capture, and analysts would say that was a wave. Yes, it was a wave indeed, but the company was prepared to capture and surf the wave. So we like those numbers of 2022, because it was 25.3% in average. And we could talk about the past twelve months, we are near 22%, and we are in a quarter that we have a seasonality.
It's a harvest year, so this is what we have until now. We are positioned at a different level of profitability, and we will talk about this later. This is lower for us, the exposure, so we are confident that we are in the right path. Another look now, as I am going down the company's VRE, we will talk about costs and expenses. We have a company that we have a vocation on agribusinesses, and but at the origin, we are a transformation company, so it's important to talk about structure and expenses. It's a well-known focus of the company, so we see here the opportunity that we have. We also have here, cross-control. All areas are owners of all expenses, so we are able to cross expenses and achieve expense efficiency levels.
So this will help us to keep the company growing and the expenses under control. Another important step is working capital. So you always have a question on working capital, so I ask my team to provide two pieces of information here for us to analyze. So on the right side, we have historical on stocks and payment to suppliers and so on and so forth, and we see that we have a balance. At Kepler, we have a investment thesis, because we believe we are a company of projects, so we deliver projects. And because of this, sometimes we have an advance from customers, and when the project is financed, up to 80% of this amount we can receive before delivery. So this allow us to grow, allocating a low working capital.
So we had a peak in 2020, I t was related to advance from customers. And looking to this graph here, on the right side of the screen, we have a financial and need for working capital, and this is because of the pandemic, because we had a intense, search for storage. So this is what time the Kepler was. It was incredible to see. We were in super, we had a surplus in working capital at that time, so it was possible to reinforce our cash and continue to invest. And now, despite the financial cycle is low, is under control, we had an inflation, in particular regarding to steel, which is our raw material.
This inflation was significant, in particular in 2022 due to stocks, and now I will connect with the data that Bernardo said about the portfolio. The portfolio is positive. So we have level of stocks that are very good, that leaves us prepared to capture the opportunities that are coming, that will come over the next half.
And now, looking at the CapEx. It's very important; we're bringing you two pieces of information to stress this. First, the categories that we invest in: increase of productivity, plant automation, IT, safety, and remodeling. So we see the biggest focus of the company was almost 80% on increasing capacity and productivity, therefore, to address the opportunities that are presenting. And also, more important than this, Fabiano just showed you the painting video. We will open next week, grand opening, to increase the productivity and quality of our products. So when you look at the CapEx, it's a strategic one, in order that the company will keep on having the capacity to grow with cost under control and good payback. Historical series of the CapEx, so you can see approximately depreciation, approximately 3% of net revenue, so historically invested.
One time, the depreciation, obviously, we expanded further in order to address some strategic investments. The main one is the line of painting and others that Fabiano showed during his presentation. So we are looking to look towards CapEx. It's relevant, it's a mission, a commitment I have with Piero in order to have a giant CapEx and with quality. Moving forward, connected to CapEx, we have the invested capital payback. When I say capital at Kepler, we have exposure in 100% to our group business, but our capital goods industry. So those of you that analyze the company and follow it, this is a very important indicator to show you if the company delivers payback, and it's amazing, the payback during the last years.
Even this time when we hope by CapEx of the previous slide, the higher one, this CapEx will mature and bring cost reduction in future years, so we are having pressure on the ROI. So 66% is an extraordinary number. Now to be a bit of reference and not something standing alone, I bring you some good capital goods companies that are traded in the stock exchange in different sectors. So it's clear that the invested capital payback, it's higher than any of the other company in different sectors in the stock exchange. So this is a tip I'd give you. Those that like the payback on invested capital, you can see where to invest. Well, moving forward, I will just end my presentation with this.
I will talk that all this management growth, better profitability, helps us to keep a cash flow sturdy position. So we are net cash, so we have more cash than debt, and this ended by the company joining positive flow of shareholders' remunerations through dividends. In recent series, obviously, 2021, we have a relevant share of the capital reduction 2021. Most of you know that. Just recalling, we have an investment on capital that was huge through an operation of subscription from the past decade that generated more than BRL 140 million, and we redistribution capital reduction more than double, so it was of the resulted of the previous year's outcome, so we did the apportion for you investors. And now, we entered a virtual cycle of growth and cash generation last year. This picture is cash. It's not competence, it's cash.
2022, 47% of payout, and during the last 12 months, it's 58%. And we don't deem our JCP and dividends we just disclosed last, we will be paid this Friday, BRL 55 million to get. Adding BRL 55 million here, this number will go skyrocket. So we have managed to grow the company, make investments, do acquisition, and even though generate a sturdy cash flow for have a flow of available dividends for you. So this is a bit of our discipline, and we hope to keep on enjoying this flow. Now, just the last slide, I'd like to share with you commitments and accountability in my area, our responsibilities regarding the company. This important point, we will keep focusing on CapEx, always looking productivity regarding working capital and discipline. We don't waive this. You are very strong with us for this.
You understand it's important, and more and more, we will focus on the working capital, supporting the company and efficient cost and margin management, and they're the things we want to do throughout the time and investing to the company. M&A, merger and acquisitions, we talked during the Q&A. We have opportunities, and we will focus on it. We managed to do the first acquisition of Kepler was Procer, and the others we've enjoyed. So we kept on moving forward in this area. Another leverage of managing remuneration, so share purchase. We have a program of shares purchase open today. We will use it. I think Kepler has a very discounted share, so we will keep this, and the cash position allows us to do so. And all this being done, what will remain the surplus will be reported as dividends, always looking towards growth. We, we grow, dividends follow.
So before ending, because we talked a lot about resilience, one of the three pillars we stressed since the beginning of this event. So you mentioned some moments that Kepler has experienced and what you're experiencing now. Please give us some examples for those here, the difference and change of one moment to the next, bringing this comparison so we can bring more substance for the next questions to be posing as follows. Very nice. This point you're addressing is very important. Many of the meetings I hold with, and the executives also do with this, we always have this question posed: What Kepler made that it's different? What will lead the company to face better the volatility moment and to guarantee this being a robust company? It's as simple.
Many factors we tried, and I had the pleasure of wrapping up with this last slide of presentation to provide you with some information. We set up this panel. I'm sorry about the amount of figures and numbers, but I hope I promised to be brief. So P&L evolution. So we got 2016. Why this year? Because it was the year, the first year that lean methodology was implemented, and since then, the company has harvest very important outcomes. So we tried to do this. We could do with 2003, 2013, 2014, 2018. So 2016 was the year chosen, and results would not change that much. So you see the top line out of the company, revenues were BRL 0.5 billion to BRL 1.6 billion, three times the revenues. And when we look profitability, we are in a different level.
As much as 27 was a magnet year. Take this year as an example, the difference is gargantuan regarding profitability. If you look within this cost structure, when we look at the key indicators and divide by the revenue, it has streamlined. So 55-65, much of the lean 85, I'm sorry, to 65, a bit of the scale and so forth. Now skipping to the lower part, and then I end with the middle part. Commercial resilience was talked about a lot. RS is an area that we had in 2016, BRL 37-38 million, to BRL 235 during the last month. So a leap and the importance, recurrent revenues, profitability, and so forth. We talk about the assets we have to cater to agribusiness. We had two plants and one distribution center. Now we have two plants, better, bigger, and eight distribution centers.
So it's a differential competition that no competitor has this. Now, talking about the digital side of things, this was not. We didn't have this agenda in 2016. But today, in addition to having the Sync, the source of all that, we position ourselves with this effective technology and process, 1,000 or 700 units of the base, we think it has a potential to exponentially grow. And then I end with something very important for you. It was talked about the new market, a conquest that was very important for the company. Market value reached BRL 2 billion, a very important evaluation. And this one I like a lot, the base of shareholders, individuals. It was very small, 70,000, 71. And when I talk with relation with investors, that we were 30,000. In one year, more than 2 times its growth.
So something right we are doing, otherwise, we, they would not be interested, and it's gratifying when one sees this. This also, it was daily average volume, and we want to go leave a bit a small cap for another category. But let's give time to all. Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to be with you. This was the last slide, so a round of applause for Paulo. More 20 minutes of Q&A. I think some of you would like to pose questions on the previous block, but we will start providing microphones, so you can pose your questions. 2-3 presential questions are set. Team will set up the places, and I will invite to join me on stage. Piero, CEO.
Kepler, Bernardo, Fabiano of the Industrial Product Director, and Polezi, who just showed us the figures, Director of IR. We have the seats. Thank you. Now we will start. The mic is already available. We have a first question and a second here. Wearing the pink shirt, your name, and please be welcome. So, Arnaldo Felizardo, consultant. Schneider, please. I would like to know, Kepler, regarding production capacity, the percentage being used, what are any bottlenecks you might have and the plans for capacity increase? Thank you very much. Very good question. Well, today we are working, operating at a bracket of 75%, approximately, and our plans for investments follow the line of the automation and productivity gain of the Industry 4.0, looking for this productivity.
The bottlenecks, they are few, and it's possible to, as I mentioned, with small investments that are incremental and punctual on those specific lines, with this, if we have demand, and the market asks for us, we can fast adapt, adjust as our services and cater for our clients. Now, the next question. Raise your hand, please, and then two more. Up. So three questions. The group over there. So what's your name, please? Good. Flávio, Manager of Cubo Investimentos. Thank you. Resources manager. My technical question is technical, regarding general solution of Kepler. Not long ago, unfortunately, I sold the shares I had because I was scared with the option, but I was too amateur, and I didn't research that. Well, well, the story tells itself, right? I sold my...
Payback was absurd of our shares, and congratulate you all this, and not only this, this event, during the coffee break and the event, it was very important, the store, it adds to the name and value for investment analysts. My question is one, following the line of silo bag, the option, the, for start of the market. As I did a brief research, I see the silo bags a short-term option, this segment of the polypropylene, although low investment, and it seems it has a differential where you can store in more remote areas of a farm. And I would like to know your words regarding what makes the difference one solution for the other, when one or the other are bet, regard the point of view of growers and opportunities and challenges regarding this tech op.
Flávio, thank you very much for your presence and question. I'm sorry that you sold your shares of Kepler. The Silo Bolsa, it's a very cool solution necessary within the system, but as I said, this it's a temporary solution. I will not say a bad, necessary thing, but it's a solution that growers or the corporates, they avoid whenever they can, because that solution demands lots of labor. It's labor-intensive, it's a slow and hands-on process. The Silo Bolsa, two pieces of equipment, one pulling and the other filling the bags and one cutting and loading. So it's a very hands-on process in Brazil. Well, every ten minutes I had with clients, ten complaints about labor. So it's not a path to follow. It's an option when you don't do investment, the physical structure, you use that resource to supply whenever you need.
It's a market we investigated, analyzed, and we thought: Should we join this market? We still are not convinced due to its dynamics. It's highly commodity-wise market. There's a possibility of offering the Silo-Bolsa within our portfolio with more product, reducing the cost, as mentioned before. So I don't see it as a threat for the structure of storage. Again, it's something that's temporary, that clients avoid resorting to it. Thank you for that question. Now, regarding Silo-Bolsa, if we compare with our silos, not price, and it's regarding productivity and quality also. Brazil, it's a complicated country. It's a tropical country, different from cold countries. So total cost ownership, it's something that we'll have to analyze during the 20 years of operation. So silos, 20 years.
So it's not a competitor, it's a solution, perhaps even co-located with us, well related with us. Less, and, one of the founders of ACE, lecture, and we have to always see and learn new things. Personally, they are passionate about a solution. It's our feeling, our child, and so forth, but, but you don't fall in love with the problem. So the problem, they want a solution. It's not our solution. Perhaps, the solution here would be a grower, not money to invest in a whole project... perhaps investing in the cleaning, drying, it will guarantee a quality product, and then it put in Silo-Bolsa for 1, 2 years, and then it grows next years, in 3 years, and it grows in silos. It's an ongoing solutions. We can think in solving clients' pains with mixed solutions. We are not competitors.
We can complement and leverage on our business with this. Now, three questions there, Charles.
Well, good morning. I, I have two doubts, specifically regarding capital allocation. The first one, if we can or better say, the outlooks of the company for the next quarter when you look at cash, the location, dividends, and recom, rebuy and CapEx. And the second question would be a bit linking with what market potential. We see Kepler's 2023 as the second best year of the company. And what are you feeling for the next quarters and feeling end of this year, beginning of next, and revenues, in revenues, cash generation, and so forth?
Well, thank you very much. The first question and the second regarding the outlook. So capital allocation will not be different of what I talked with you. Perhaps, share your question in two parts, investments in capacity, plant capacity. So we are doing a huge process of updating our plant. Always, I invite you to visit us. We didn't have visiting programs today. We have one. We do it 2, 3 times a year we invest. We get the investors, take them to Campo Grande, visiting some clients. So the invitation is here, and it's made. You will see our plants, especially the Panambi, is experiencing a huge change process for improvement, so we will keep further with this CapEx, the company keeping this level, good things. With the depreciation, we will keep on with the capital will be invested on this.
The other part of the factor, we always allocate for this inorganic movement, the process. We did the acquisition of 50% of Procer using own capital. We didn't have to leverage capital. There, those were sturdy. We don't know when it's going to happen on its side, but capital structure makes us feel, feel comfortable to move forward and then see how to fund it. With this, all the remaining points, we always follow the policies, reserves, internal reserves. We always have to have a sturdy balance sheet. All the out, the remaining, we will allocate and pay through dividends. So we are now in a good moment regarding working capital, i.e., clients' anticipations are coming back, so inventories level is good to cater, so allows us to enter next year with a very good position in our cash.
Now, talking about the second part of your question.
Now, about projections, and I will summarize it. I cannot talk too much about this, but we're looking at this with the last quarter, last year, a politicization of farmers withdrawing the investment, so we returned to the historical level from an extraordinary event period that we had, and the sales were accelerating from May, June. We had a portfolio that is higher than the one that we had last year. So we have a good perspective, and according to our mix, as Paulo showed, agriculture, legal entities, individuals, we have a good acceleration and legal entities, soybean and corn, we have to process all these record volumes, so we are doing investments, and they are paying back now. We have additional questions now.
My name is Roberto from... Sorry, I could hear the name of the company, so I would like to congratulate you for the event. I will ask you two questions. The first is, the concern that we have is when the company has a good cash, you now start to like acquisitions. How did you start your acquisition, the valuation, the purpose of the acquisitions? What is, is to diversify, to improve yourself? So talk about a little bit of this process, and how Kepler can help agriculture to be more sustainable, to contribute towards the environment. You talked about reducing CO2, saving water, energy efficiency. So how can Kepler help farmers to be more sustainable, to contribute to the environment, which is something that we have a demand nowadays in the society?
Thank you for both questions. I will ask you the first one. I talked about acquisitions. We focused on, over the past years, to build a robust company that generates cash and sustainability in the business and sustainability of the environment, people, and governance, because these are the pillars that the results. Regarding acquisitions, we have a new cycle. The digital area is an immediate need that we had because we were investing in our digital platform that was launched in 2019, and now we have the opportunity of Procer. I was there in the first board meeting two years ago b ut it was there, it was an opportunity that came out of nowhere, so we advanced a lot in terms of growth, not only acquisitions, but to internalize our process to be more organic, to be careful in the allocation of capital, CapEx and investments.
As Julio mentioned, we have a good governance in the board, in the advisory board as well. I talked about, the next 28th, we will have a workshop with the board to talk about this growth opportunities at Kepler. There are many territories that we can advance. We have alternatives. And also, the main point here, the critical path is not capital, is not. We can buy in cash, we can leverage this company, but we have to leverage the company to, have an immediate cash results. I would like to joke that we have, uncertain math and uncertain father, the Romans would say, but we, we have a certain invest and uncertain, expenses, so we have to be very careful when we allocate capital. A clear governance is critical, in particular in our, performance area.
As I mentioned, Seletron, small investment, but it's an excellent opportunity. They are selling to the beans, to the coffee farmers, and these are our shareholders. So let's change our strategy. Never taking both feet from the ground at the same time, but always within our performance area. I would like to add a comment here. We explore these three lanes of growth. One of them is market growth, all these opportunities that you've have seen here. The second is value added, Procer, product launches, and acquisitions, and three would be acquisitions. It would be to leverage all this.
When we open this, lane in the middle, which is the market, to make you comfortable, there is opportunity, but our selection is to be in businesses that are leaders in the market, like Procer, companies that have the technology that would contribute to us, but companies that are profitable. We are not a turnaround company, and maybe we can pay, a more expensive price, but it will be not a nightmare in the future. So we have it clear in our minds. It was a hard process to get Procer, but when we got in, now things are easier, and this is our vision. So to accelerate these opportunities with discipline. Would like to talk about the environmental aspect. We have 10 minutes now.
What I can say is that we have a vision that is an extensive vision in both in our internal operations, as I mentioned, product development, and we are evolving, advancing. We have Karina here, and she works on ESG projects, and we will work even more in the end with the customers. What else we can do to our customers in the chain, so we can reduce even more this impact that can be generated by the process? The next question now. Now, just to add a comment, we are focusing on products as well. Fabiano, show our KW Max that consumes less electricity, less thermal, energy, less particulate. So it's good, the screw, the sweep screw, because there is a risk of workers going in the silo, so less work-related accidents, ESG. So we are thinking of all aspects.
So we have the ESG in our DNA. So we work with the loss in the storage process. We are focused on products that are serving the economic part, but also the environmental aspect for all our customers. Your name, please. Question? My name is Rafael from Multiplica Credit Investment. The first question that I have, you have a share of 50% of the installed plant. I want to understand the share of new sales. And the second is about technology. You talked about 1,700 plants that has this installed technology, the sync technology. So have you mapped all the silos that are installed and that can receive this technology? If yes, how many? Our ambition, I will talk about here, is to have 50% of units in Brazil connected.
15 of static capacity, and to achieve 50% of static capacity connected in Brazil. 100% of our new units they go out of the factory with the process automated. So other, unless the customer would say that we need a specific solution here, but we have Procer working on this, and this is a very intense and proactive work to connect all the other existing units. 15,000 customer in a share in the agri business. With virtual active communication, we can do this. And there are also some elements that are being developed in terms of hardware, that we can adapt the, the raw of the hardware that we, we can connect from a connected unit. So this is the way that we are aiming.
The market share question, that we estimate first, we had 50%, now we have a 40% share. Now, we have a longer life than our competitors. So we had a higher share, we have a higher presence, and we estimate this. Because we are part of the ABIMAQ. We have a chamber at ABIMAQ, which is a storage chamber, so we have some statistics in the ABIMAQ. We have ANFAVEA, the steel and cement industry, it's different in terms of the statistics. So we have many competitors, many of our customers are out of ABIMAQ, and with this statistics, we try to estimate our share, which is 40 or maybe 38. Most of our competitors don't publish our balance sheets.
So, we are on the stage and people are looking to us, we have to do this, but we believe that these numbers are true, they are accurate. Then we also have a monitoring on a day-to-day basis. We have a digital system to control the entire pipeline, so every order that comes in, in all of our regions, is registered in our process, so we have a pipeline. So the order will go throughout the chain. So we know when the order is placed, when the order is delivered, so with this, we have a success rate. We have a meeting every week, every Friday, to look at the entire supply chain, to see how we are in terms of sales, plant, and supply.
Because we are selling to now, to deliver in December and maybe next year, so we must have factory capacity, deadlines, support, so we look into all of these aspects. We have this meeting every week. We have a success rate. We have 100 projects, we lose 50. Who did we lose those projects to? So we monitor all of these aspects. Our advantage that we have is we have a big share. We believe in we are 70%-80% of coverage, so we have a good coverage, and we have accurate statistics, which is different from our customers that do not have that coverage. Mateus from Logos Capital. I want to make two questions to understand the resilience of the thesis.
The first question is that last year, what the PCA that was delivered to us is different from what was announced. So what do you feel about these two past months, if the PCA that was announced will be actually delivered? And the second that I would like to comment is about the percentage of farmers that are purchasing the silos with their own resources, with their own funds, not financed or from the PCA or exclusive fund financing. Your name again? Mateus. Thank you for both questions. I will start here. The PCA, it's about the PCA now. We are very happy with the announcement, BRL 6.6 billion, 30% more than last year, for at 30% of growth in the total.
When we look to the PCA, since it was created, except for two years in this period, I think we have 11 years of PCA, except in two years, it was announced of 100%. In average, it is 70%-80%. In the other 30%, we remember that in the end of the day, it's not the money from the government, it's the money from the financial market, the bank, private and public banks. So it's roughly 70%. So if we work with that statistics, BRL 6.6 billion, and last year was BRL 5.1 billion, allocation was 60%, so we have a flow, using statistics from the past, higher than ever. So using that rule, we will get to the market. So this is important.
The second point, we had a normative instruction that ordered that allocations will be made every quarter. So you can see the, a cup half empty or half full? Half empty is the critical problems that we can see here. It would be important that this money would flow quickly at the beginning. And the positive aspect is that we will have different farmers involved in the process. So, and the second part of your question, historically, if we look into this, approximately, 70-30 – 70 financed and 30% own funds. Over the past few years, it was all the way around because they would use 70% of own funds because finances were not available.
And now, as we have a H1, as a failure in credit facilities, we are half-half, and I think it will stabilize at 50/50. And I think the most important is the announcement of the plan, gave a message of confidence to our customers, and this has helped increase the order portfolio to make the wheel turn, not only for Kepler and for our competitors as well. We have two questions, two more questions. I also have one question here from the audience online. I would like to know, Felipe Nenza, a conflict, about the conflict between China and Taiwan, that would stretch the relationship between China and the U.S. So how would the Brazilian agriculture and Kepler benefit from this? This is about geopolitics, right? It's clear. I'll talk about Kepler.
Yeah, Kepler, we have 20% of our funds come from China, in, like, steel, bolts, and this type of supply. If we have any problems, we can change. It's not an electronic compound, it's a simple part. There is no risk on this. And now let's look into this indirectly, because we are in the agribusiness. It's difficult to talk about geopolitics, if there will be a war or not. Anyway, the flow of food will continue, no matter what. We see all this war in Ukraine issue. There is an embargo going on, but Russia continues to sell oil and continues to sell food as well. And yes, we saw that when the problem started, fertilizers was a concern, but we do not have a shortage of fertilizers.
But I believe in case of a war, we will not be affected. But let's talk about other aspects. There is a tension between the U.S. and China and Brazil, as we are a second player, or second, third, we are a power in agribusiness. It's natural that we can be a supplier, we can be exempt, we can be impartial, and rather than going into the conflict. And I believe Brazil is already benefiting from this geopolitics, because we are a neutral country, and we have this possibility of supplies. Even, talking about coffee, over the five years, it will be critical in terms of food, because we have a demand coming, production of food must grow, the direction of corn to produce ethanol. So countries that are not self-sufficient, like, China, Saudi Arabia, so they want assurance for food safety.
So I believe that Brazil is well-positioned in this aspect. Not talking about China only, but the Middle East as a whole, Saudi Arabia, as a supplier of food, we are very well positioned.
Now, the last questions, I start with you, and then w ell, Érico, again, regarding the working capital need. During the quarter in 2Q20, the last one, when you presented in figures year by year, the cost of sold products had increased almost 80%, and the company justified this correctly with exchange rate volatility and commodities. Then I questioned you back then, what would be the attitude of the company when you were caught by surprise, and you said you were setting up a sector structuring in order to do more smart procurement, EDA, and so on. Now, you see the need for working capital is BRL 157 million. I would like to know, there was a lot of exchange rate volatility and commodities also. What's the accountability of this sector or responsibility of this figure, BRL 157 million?
It's sensitive information, but whatever you can say, how can the company prepare itself to face all this volatility in order to not have this figure CPV?
Well, thank you for the question. As we have shown, it's very strategic. I said we are a project company. We sell. Bernardo places an order today, and we deliver in six months, and we don't take risk. So we acquire the raw material, buy and lock its price and profitability also. In the past, it was not like that. The question you call us about-
Past quarters, I think the last and the before last, the steel skyrocket this price. We have inventories. We had a policy for this, where we foresee three months of coverage, but still went up during a time that was almost 100%, and we had sold, and the next replacement was very expensive. So then we update this throughout time, so you can see movements being sharp regarding working capital, and this is adjusted throughout timeline. But again, we have mitigating factors, coverage policy, and we acquire raw materials, steel from different points to try to mitigate these effects. Currently, now, this increase, we showed a need for one hundred and fifty-seven million worth capital. Two factors affect this. One is the deceleration of demand, especially for farmers from last year to this, it was sharp.
So we still had a view back then that we, we foresee the future, right? Oh, the positive market for 2023, there was deceleration that happened, and the steel was prices of last year. Current year, 20% approximately, we acquiring raw material with a better price. We exchanging for a more expensive inventory for a cheaper one, and reorganize the company. So I think the worst moment was back then. Now, we are very sure about this, and things are back to normal. So the other question? Well, to wrap up, this past days, I was talking with a friend from the investor sector in USA, and this peer, he invests in agricultural sector and so forth, and he asked me: Why Kepler does not lease the silos instead of selling it?
This was our talk, and then he asked me: Wouldn't it be more useful, sell doing a lease of silos, there would in-house deduction bracket, how would this? So I would like to hear your opinion. If you thought about this possibility and the energy, if these drying plants, couldn't it be supplied by biodigesters or generators in the own plant using wastes from it, from the stock and so forth, animals? So do we have a company of forecasting the future? So, well, answering a bit about the lease, we believe a lot in this thesis. We, in our business plan, we just mentioned, we believe there will be natural growth in the market as we are seeing it, but we as managers, we must look for demand generation. This is the word we use, how to sell more than the average.
So the market is growing like this, we will grow 8% per year, 10%. No, we want more, and we believe strongly in lease. But it's simple, but you have to change the feature on. We are working on. First, we did the funding, which is more simpler and ordinary. Let's say, the owner funds and move forward as an option for the PCA. Now, we are working on the lease. Still, some points. The first point for lease is it has to be a commodity. It cannot be within the rural farmer property. Sale-leaseback, it's not a lease. So it has to be in a yard that has navigability. A contract of 5 years, then it's there, so forth, no problems. Yes or no?
We have to have another client and replace, so it has to be a region with demand and potential and continuity. We are looking for this, perhaps, Mato Grosso, Pará, we think they have potentials. And then regarding the ownership of silos, it's 100 to 100 million, not important. So we, we don't want to sales back. We want greenfield, so we must start creating plants, perhaps. We are addressing this, two, three plants that belong to us, that we make it feasible, our own risk. Diego already mentioned 360. We don't sell just equipment, but we know how to build a plant, and then we package this, call someone, and set up a bigger fund. And then there's maintenance also.
Equipment like the leasing, when the lessor, when he receives the car back, you have to put it in order, so the normal average consumption like a car, but it will have some pumps and things like that, you must to put in order in the car. So the lessor must work this out. There are those interests. We are working, seeing potential clients, big and small. We are working. I think we will have something new next year. We believe strongly, because demand generation, if we can put 5, 6 projects like this, 5-6 projects per year, it will be BRL 200 million-BRL 300 million more per year. We have to put this up. We are working on it. The second question? Now, regarding generation through different sources of biogas....
And we are assessing; this is under our radar and development portfolio, not only gas as a source, but other, on different opportunities in addition to gas and today. Because this, we saw a migration that's happening and this difficulty of labor inland. So from they use round woods, then biomass, and now they have the growing cost growth substantial and variables, and pulp and paper plants experience this, and this affected the price. So we are under our development, assessing different sources for heat generation for equipment. Now, so we are heading towards the end, and I would like you for the final message for those following us, who are with us in the arena and YouTube. First, thank you for your interest for our company. We are very proud of what we are doing.
We are working during the last years to build this sturdiness and deliver excellent results, and maintaining sustainability in the different fronts during the next years. As said, we have been working also with the growth. We believe our company has a positioning in the post-harvest that can be, in fact, a growth platform during this era. Not only added value and digital, but also different fronts. We have worked strongly on it. Júlio mentioned that comes from the board, governance, board level. We are a corporation. Our shareholders have 20%, so it's an accountability not only by shareholders, but the board and the board of directors to keep this company going forward. Individuals are our main concern. We have our investment on individuals. We built an institutional structure. We built a new board.
There are old individuals from the company and new individuals invited to be part of this board, so we are heading towards in the sense of individuals, and we will keep on doing this. So I have full trust that Kepler has a privileged position, as we showed today, to the fact that we have a global trend. Brazil is very well positioned in this global trend, and Kepler is well positioned also in Brazil. Let's not do crazy things of in-investments. We always joke, we will not buy the company to do turn around. We buy a stream company that will add synergy to our businesses. Somewhere, it has to bring either commercial, industrial, so forth. So we will advance toward this path, because I believe Kepler has all the conditions to do so. Conditions in structure, conditions in financial structure, individuals, and positioning in the marketplace.
So for sure, during the next years, you will see a development that will happen in this front. And we think a lot in the long run. We have 1,700 collaborators, and I would like now to thank them, that without their work, we will not be here. So they are all part of Kepler. They, they joke that you're in these 1,700 collaborators, they are orange because Kepler is orange. So you had the opportunity of visiting our plant. Our plants, Panambi, is a bit bigger. You will see the condition of seeing what these guys are doing. To wrap up, I would like to thank your process, it's those here, those remote. And now let's wait for the next events that you will have the opportunity to attend. And feel free to engage our investors relation area.
I would like to make a point here that the investor relations here is available all times at Kepler. Piero, Paulo, Bernardo, Fabiano, please, we would like to say goodbye, and I thank the shareholders, analysts, guests, for embracing the information as participants. This is so important. On behalf of Kepler, I make the point of saying the commitment of the company with the sustainable development, with the good practices of governance, and we wait you all during the next Kepler Day on 2024. So thank you very much. Congratulations, and round of applause to all. See you in the next Kepler Day. Thank you.