Good morning. Welcome to the video conference of M. Dias Branco. Referring to the results of the 4th quarter of 2022. We have with us Gustavo Lopes Theodozio, Vice President for Investments and Controllership, and Fabio Cefaly, Director of New Business and Relations with Investors. We inform that this event will be recorded and that during the presentation of the company, all participants will only be listening the teleconference. Afterwards, we will start the session of questions- and- answers only for analysts and investors. The transmission will be also done simultaneously on YouTube at www.youtube.com.ri.mdias. We'd like to clarify also that eventual declarations that may be done during this teleconference relative to perspectives for business in M. Dias Branco, projections or operational goals and financial goals are beliefs and premises of the management of the company.
Just as, based on information currently available, they involve risks and uncertainties and premises, since they refer to future events and therefore depend on circumstances which may or may not occur. Investors should understand that economic conditions, general economic conditions and other factors may affect the performance of M. Dias Branco and bringing the company to results that differ materially to those expressed in these future considerations. I would like to pass the microphone to Fabio, who will begin the presentation. Fabio, please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank you all for your participation in our teleconference, referring to the results of the fourth quarter of 2022 and for the year, full year of 2022. I'm gonna start the presentation, and then after that, I will pass the microphone over to Gustavo, our CFO.
Before we start in the results, I would like to mention. I would like to thank all those in the market who have accompanied M. Dias, who have participated in our Investor Day in December of 2022. It's always an honor and a huge privilege to count on your proximity of all of you, on the closeness of all of you. I saw a net revenue, net of BRL 10 billion, a growth of 30% compared to the previous year. I don't know, our average price went up 29%. We had a rhythm very close to the quarterly vision in the fourth quarter of 2021. We had expansion in the volume of 1% in sales volume and the annual provision of 0.3% in the quarter. The costs went up.
Here's the vision of our variable costs, principally due to the exchange rates and commodities. Oil, palm oil, which had an increase of 31%, both in the annual vision as well as in the quarter. SG&A, which are expense, our administrative expenses rose by 20%. Remembering that in the last three years, there was a great effort on the part of the company to reduce. We had a level of SG&A, which discloses at 25% of our net revenue, and we closed 2021 with 20%.
For the quarter we had 21.1%, which is normal in the fourth quarter and in the first quarter to have a level of SG&A a little bit higher because these are quarters with volumes of sales lower than the second and third quarters. Over the year, we had an EBITDA of BRL 900 million, which represented growth of 32% compared to 2021, in the quarter, BRL 121 million, which was a decrease of 34%, which we will explain during the presentation. Before we go into the actual numbers for the year and the quarter, we would like to do an overview of the principal facts and the principal initiatives related to our strategy of growth.
We have three pillars which looked at the current category of biscuits, pasta, margarine and wheat-based products, also the international view, all supported by a productive program of continuous, a continuous program of production efficiency. We increased our market share during the year in the three principal categories: cookies, pasta and wheat flour, have been a highlight in our growth. Piraquê is our cookie brand, our cracker brand with a premium price line, it's the second largest brand of M. Dias Branco and had a growth in net revenue of 36% above the growth of the total growth of M. Dias Branco, and their volumes grew by 11%. We had a intelligent pricing.
Intelligent pricing, a process more sophisticated and more granular for pricing of our products, which brought also the new formats and weights of products, which we will show these numbers to you as we go through. That highlight to e-commerce and the distributors channel to increase our capillarity, especially in what we call the attack areas, which are the regions South, Southeast, and Central West. Also the strengthening of our priority brands, which are those which have received the investment in marketing and trade marketing. Piraquê and Vitarella, which is our biggest brand, and Adria, which is one of our principal brands in pastas. In other categories, the highlight was the acquisition of Jasmine, which puts us today, M. Dias, as leading the market nationally in granolas and gluten-free bread and integral cookies.
We also see that the average price of Jasmine of BRL 20 a kilo, the result of the third quarter, the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to BRL 6.3 regard M. Dias Branco's average price per kilo. We're entering into categories that have higher potentials for growth, higher average prices, and gross margins, which are structurally better than M. Dias Branco. In our international front, the highlight was the Las Acacias, which closing of which closed in the October 31st, 2022, and it marks our entrance into the physical presence outside of Brazil. On the line of productivity and efficiency, we started the Simplifique Project, which involves the implementation of SAP and is ready for the beginning of 2024.
We improved our level of service, measured by the OTIF, O-T-I-F, On Time In Full, which means, in Portuguese, it means to deliver the agreed amount at the right time, at the agreed upon time. This agreement by 2020 was around 40%. The fourth quarter of 2022, we closed at 65%, and the goal for 2024 is 80% OTIF. Between the beginning of this indicator in 2021 until the goal of 2024, we believe that the benefit of this improvement will be something close to an additional month of revenues. We have improvements in our working capital, especially in the suppliers column, which was went from 44 days in 2019, and we closed 2022 with 57 days.
We did a strategic alliance with Omega to increase the percentage of renewable energy in the mix of energy that is consumed by M. Dias Branco. Today, 50% of our needs are supplied by renewable energy sources, and with a lower cost also. We also had highlights such as the recognition of brands, added top of mind, the participation in initiatives with startups, evolution in the indicators of ESG, and the entrance of M. Dias Branco in the ELAS11, which considers companies with a higher percentage of women in leadership. Looking back to our numbers, we're gonna start with the numbers from revenue and market share. We had double-digit growth in our revenue of 28% in our quarterly rate and 30% annually. The volume sold were three point...
0.3% in the quarter and 1% for the year. The highlight is the increase in the average price, which grew 27% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and 29% for the year. This is possible because we have strong brands which assure us, give us pricing power, which is the capacity to make price adjustments when necessary. The increase in prices happened in practically all of the categories of M. Dias Branco. In cookies, flour, margarine, fats and highlights in other areas such as these, other categories such as snack foods, gluten-free bread, granolas, toasts, cake mix. With the acquisition of Latinex and Jasmine in 2022, we had an increase in average prices of almost 50% in this category.
Net revenue in that, in this category doubled in size, closing the year with BRL 345 million. In the vision, quarterly vision of the fourth quarter of 2021 to fourth quarter 2022, we had an increase in net prices in all of the categories. Increases our volumes in flour and margarine and fats, and a retraction in volumes in cookies and pastas, which we will explain going forward, crackers and pastas. It grew by two digits in all areas. Comparing the third quarter of 2022 to 2023, it's something that's been asked a lot by the market, which is our capacity to increase average prices. We increased our average prices.
That means obviously that we make some readjustments, but also better improving our mix, our category mix, the mix in the category and between categories. We had an increased average increase of prices of 1.6% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, with a highlight for crackers and pastas, which are our two biggest categories. There was a slight retraction in volume, which is also normal in the third and in the fourth quarter, due to the seasonality of this item, especially in the month of January. This our volumes retracted in the fourth compared to the third quarter. Looking at the average prices, highlighting the prices, our launches, new launches we have. As we've seen, the company's always seeking to launch products with better, higher average prices and higher margins.
We just did the launch in the fourth quarter of 2022 in Piraquê brand. With BRL 20 per kilo, which is well above the average price per kilo of M. Dias Branco's products. Between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022, the increase in average price was due to three factors. One, due to price readjustments which happened due to inflation, cost inflation, increase in commodities in dollars and exchange rates, and also the size of packaging, which was changed, especially in the cookie packaging and the inclusion of higher value, higher added value products in our portfolio due to the innovations and the acquisitions which were made. A few example of launches. Piraquê with an average price of BRL 20. Adria price, average price of BRL 16.7 per kilo.
Here's a more structured vision of our launches, trying to launch products in these four pillars: nutri-nutrition and healthful food, health food, fit food, the Jasmine brand, indulgence such as cookies and Isabela, practicality, practical foods such as instant spaghetti and snack crackers and snacks with the Piraquê brand and Frontera brands. We also grew our revenue by double digits, both in the annual vision compared to the quarterly vision in the areas, in the defense and attack areas. Our market share was a highlight for the year. We closed the year with our market share above the end of 2021 in the three principal categories, which is cookies, pastas and whole wheat and wheat flour, domestic wheat flour, both in market share value as well as market share volume.
What we see in the cookies and pastas categories was a recovery of market share starting from the second quarter, and in the area of domestic wheat flour a consistent expansion of our market share since the end of 2022. Highlighting the market share for Piraquê, Adria and Finna. Piraquê was our cookie brand, which in Brazil gained the most market share, 0.8% of market share between 2021 and 2022. Adria was the second largest brand gaining market share in pastas, and Finna was the brand which gains the most market share in domestic wheat flour in 2022. Exports remained at a level of BRL 200 million.
We had here between 2020 and 2022, a slight retraction, principally due to the slower volume of sale of wheat flour, but the areas of highest value, added value, cookies and pastas had a good rhythm of revenue. Also highlighting the acquisition of Las Acacias, which became part of our profit results in the 1st of November in 2022. We bring an annual vision here so that you have a visibility of the size of the sales of this company, which is close to BRL 120 million per year. Closing this part of revenues and market share and going into costs and expenses. Here we close the year with a EBITDA margin a little bit higher than the 2021 margin, with the EBITDA growing by 30%, more than 30%, almost 30% in the year.
We had a margin of 4.4% in the year below the margin of the fourth quarter of 2021 and below the peak of margin, which in the second quarter of 2022, basically due to the higher prices of commodities which happened between the second and third quarters, which wound up impacting our results in the fourth quarter. What we see is that, in this following slide is, which must be on your screens. On the left-hand side, we look at the price of wheat and the palm oil in dollars. Both prices in dollars. The red line represents spot prices. Spot prices and the blue line, the price, average price for the M. Dias Branco stock.
What we see. Before we get to the peak of $450 a ton in June of 2022, the curve of M. Dias was slowed due to the four months of stock, which we had on hand and our hedge. When the price in the market started to fall between July and August, our cost increased a bit because we had already postponed the increases for this more expensive wheat from the war principally for the fourth quarter of the year, which then was also a quarter with lower volumes due to seasonality, and we had two relevant impacts on our margins, which wound up coming to 4.4% of EBITDA in that quarter. We observed in the market price until February of 2022 is the continuity of the falling prices.
In February, we saw a price, a market price of 339 per ton of wheat, which is still below, even a little below what we saw in March of 2022. This is a signal that the price of these commodities are dropping. The dynamic for palm oil is the same. When the war started, the price went up. It took a while to hit our results due to the stocks and hedges that we had. The market price today is below in the period at the beginning of the war. We have two signals that show that the costs tend to fall in the market, they're falling, and tend to improve our margins at some point in time during the year, during this year.
What we see now in the following slide, looking at this vision of costs, separating variable and fixed costs, our gross margin for the fourth quarter of 24.8% gross margin below the fourth quarter of 2021, because our variable costs were higher, mainly due to what we explained earlier with the questions of commodities, both wheat and palm oil, which are priced in dollars. Our administrative defense on the annual vision were below the previous year, in the quarter, they were 21.1%, a little bit above the fourth quarter of 2021. This quarterly vision we see here in this slide, where we compare the SG&A as a percent of net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022.
Basically four factors which made this SG&A as a % of net revenue increase. The inclusion of expenses from acquired companies, Jasmine and Las Acacias, Latinex. It entered our results in November 3rd, Jasmine in August 31st, and Las Acacias in the 31st of October. Principally, Jasmine had a EBITDA margin still lower than the M. Dias rate, and the thesis of this investment is to double or triple this company in size and diminish its fixed costs and have a result which will be favorable in this EBITDA, since this company and brand has an average price well above M. Dias and gross margins well above M. Dias. The second factor was an increase in provisions for doubtful receipts, depending on certain clients.
We had some expenses with acquisitions, especially in the case of Las Acacias, a relevant increase due to decrease in volumes. Our volumes grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, and several additional initiatives in marketing, especially in the Piraquê brand. Our net revenue accompanied the tendency of the EBITDA in a way that was a little bit faster rate due to the final financial results, which was negative and above what we registered in the year of 2021.
We saw a demonstration between the EBITDA of 2022 and the net revenue of 2022. The financial results were negative in BRL 231 million due to the increase of our gross debt and also the increase in the Selic interest rate. The total debt, the gross debt was bigger due to the acquisitions which happened during this period, and also the extraordinary distribution of interest on capital in this quarter.
For the generation of cash and dividends in this area, we finished the year with a leverage of 1.8% above the net cash position of -0.2% in 2021 due to the distribution of interest on capital, acquisitions, fixed assets were acquired, an increase in working capital in the line of inventory in order to improve our services. Our gross debt for the year, we finished the year with BRL 2.2 billion in debt. An important point here is that only 25% is in the short term and 75% with this chronogram that you see here is in the long term. We closed the year again with a AAA rating, with a stable perspective from Fitch for the fifth year in a row.
Our investments in CapEx were BRL 280 million for the year, growth of 34% with two highlights. The added changing our machinery to change the weight of our packaging and the initiation of the implementation of SAP. Our stock went up by 52% above the 4.7% of the principal index of the stock market. Going to the sustainability agenda, ESG agenda. For the third year consecutively, we went into the ISE portfolio, with an improvement of our point rating since 2018. Since we've been in this portfolio, we've improved our standing and our points standing.
We reduced our emissions from greenhouse gases in Scope 1 and 2, with our highlight for the year of 2022, which is our partnership with Omega, which increased the representativeness of our renewable energy in our energy mix. Here are several indicators which we're going to make available for your analysis. Before that, I wanted to pass this over to Gustavo. an overview of the principal facts, structural facts for 2022. The increase in our services. We closed the fourth quarter with 65% OTIF. Our goal is to get to 2024 with 80%, which brings an additional month of revenue. The organizational redesign and the creation of strategic areas, the Vice President of supply chain and directory of commercial strategy focused on pricing. Gain of market share in the principle categories, three principle categories.
Maintenance of our SG&A and 20% of our net revenue. Improvement of our mix with items of more added value, larger added value due to launches and acquisitions. Our first acquisition outside of Brazil, which was Las Acacias. 75% of our debt in the medium to long-term, and an improve in the rates of its sustainability ISE, MSCI and ESG. I now pass it over to Gustavo, and after that, we'll go to the questions and answers. Thank you.
Thank you, Fabio. Good afternoon, everyone. Good morning, everyone. To conclude our presentation and go to Q&A, I would just like to mention that the company continues in its trajectory of growth, sustainable growth. We've improved our processes, reinforced our team with professionals focused on growth and profitability.
We have important improvements in all the lines that depend on our management, delivering top line, a record EBITDA of BRL 10 million, and this growth of EBITDA year-on-year is reached BRL 900 million of EBITDA. Our top line grew consistently with the growth of expressive growth. Pricing power re-recognized in the company, a better mix, the fruit of innovation and acquisitions. On the operational side, Fabio Cefaly ratified the important evolution and level of service, which is very important for the point of sales with the program of Perfect Store. SG&A under control, close to 20% of the net revenue. Remember, before 2019, it was above 25%. The team structured and set up with new professionals bringing new tools. We brought a new VP for supply chain to better control the small retailers.
Store planning, logistics planning, all of the part of relationship with our suppliers. Who's a new professional in the management who has helped us with the promo packing pricing. Our costs have already started to improve with the cooling off of worldwide prices. We have new tools, new hedge tools, new inventory management tools. Our cash flow is very robust, our cash situation. For all of these points, we think that the company is on the correct trajectory and will come out even stronger from this challenging moment in which we are. We started in 2020 with the pandemic, went through the guerra, the Ukraine war, now here in Brazil, we have an increase with the questions about the election, which also affected the exchange rates in Brazil, made foreign currency very volatile.
I'm gonna now open up for Q&A. We can discuss a little more the results of the fourth quarter and what we have done here internally.
We now begin the question and answer session for investors and analysts. If you would like to make any questions, please press the button, raise hand button. If your question was answered, please click on the raise hand button. Our first question comes from Leandro Fontanesi from Bradesco. Leandro, please go ahead.
Good morning, Gustavo, Fabio. I have two questions. The first is, as you mentioned, in 2023, you did very well. When we look at the results, the quarterly results, there's usually a big variation in relation to the expectation of the market, of the consensus.
I understand that part of this variability in margin is due to the commodities prices, but a lot of what is explained with the difference in relation to our expectations is the question of volumes and also SG&A. Thinking that the investor in general receives well when there's a high, better predictability of results, how should we look at these numbers going forward, these predictions? Do you think this variation is inherent to the company, or will it be something for the investor to have more predictability in the results? The second question. Last year, as you mentioned, there was not any relevant payment in the first quarter of the payment, interest on capital, on capital to received by the investors. In 2023, how should we look at the distribution of JCP, of cash for a...
Will there be a relevant distribution as there was last year?
Leandro, thank you. This is Gustavo. I'm gonna start, and then I'm gonna Fabio will add on as well. I'm gonna start with the second question, the question of the distribution of JCP, of the interest on capital. We had a very strong change about two years ago when we increased the profitability, the distributed from 40% to 60%, and we implemented these advances at the beginning of each quarter. We're gonna maintain this program, which should not be any extraordinary distributions this year. We have no provision, no intention on the part of the company to do make new distribution nor extraordinary distributions.
Item one of the predictability, Fabio can tell you better, but I think has a lot to do with capacity of stocking for M. Dias Branco and our hedge policy. When the guerra began, the price in the market had a very rapid increase, very strong increase, and our increase was only cost of stock, was much softer, much easier. Obviously, the same thing happens when commodities head downward, where the market takes these spot prices, take advantage of these spot prices with any downward curve, but the rest takes a little longer to catch, to surf on this wave of cooling prices. Looking at the future, we don't usually give guidance, but the question to show a little bit of the prices in the market without talking about our costs. The prices in the market are also heading down.
What we perceive is improvement in volumes in 2023. We see that 2023 is better than 2022. With a clear fall off in stocks and prices globally, as well as for M. Dias. You're gonna see an increase, a better relation of costs, lower as at least in the next few quarters. The predictability is much more headed there and the average cost of M. Dias, due to the instruments of control and hedge that we have already described.
Okay, thank you.
Our next question comes from Lucas Ferreira from JP Morgan. Lucas, please go ahead.
Hi, everybody. Good morning. My first question is about the performance of volumes of cookies and pastas in this last quarter.
If you can explain a little bit this fall in volume at the end of the year, how did the market do since you showed that your market share had actually increased. Explain a little bit what's happening with inventories and the chain of supply. The stock begins the year, is it still poorly adjusted, or what would that indicate for perspectives for the first quarter? As a consequence, my second question, which is about prices. Do you think there's still space for any more price adjustments looking at the second quarter? How do you see the elasticity for the consumer? If you see the industry, let's say, lined up in this necessity to do increases, price increases, and how is it behaving in this current scenario?
Hi, Lucas. Thank you for your question.
I'm gonna start with prices. Then Fabio can talk about the question of volumes and how our stocks are doing in the first quarter and this in the following quarters. Independent of the question of costs, we have suffered some inflationary pressure for the cost personnel, the unions, logistics. Due to that, we have seen space for some possible new increases. However, clearly not in the same proportion as we saw in 2021 and 2022, but eventually there is some space. We haven't seen a retraction in volume, relevant retraction due to the elasticity of prices. Being very objective with based on facts and data, the company has a margin of more than 40% of its gross, greatly due to the size of its packages and the mix. With this margin growth, we still had volume that was stable.
Any study of elasticity that would point out an increase in prices of 30% would show a volume which would be falling off very greatly, which is what happened in 2022. For 2023, the pre-predictions are that increases will be lower. There's still space, but no space for radical increases as we had in 2022, and we also don't expect the relevant elasticity in our volumes as well. Fabio will talk a bit that more about volume now in the fourth quarter to understand what happened.
Okay, Lucas, good morning. I think the principal message here is we did not see any demand problem at the end of last year, and we don't see any problem in demand in the beginning of 2023.
It's normal to have a fall off in demand in the, from the third to the fourth quarter in the categories of cookies and pastas, but we had an unfavorable seasonality, especially in the month of December. What we saw basically in the category of cookies and crackers, the sellout, which is the demand, had a retraction from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 5% retraction. Our volumes of M. Dias, which is the sale of M. Dias to retailers, had a retraction, a bigger retraction, principally due to a retraction, a more accentuated retraction in the month of December, which in our vision is due to a reaccommodation of our inventories in the retail world.
At the beginning of this year, we see behavior, increasing volumes both in sell-in as well as sell-out, principally starting in the middle of this quarter. We don't see any problem in demands at the end of last year. We don't see any problem at the beginning of this year either. Our stocks, our inventories in the chain of supply showing that our clients are also stable, and we have observed this since the end of last year and the beginning of this year, something close to 45 days, which we understand is a level which is very adequate for both categories, for both cookies and crackers as well as pastas.
Okay, thank you, guys.
Our next question comes from Rodrigo Almeida from Santander. Rodrigo, please go ahead.
Good morning, Gustavo, Fabio, and team. I wanted to touch on a few points.
First of all, I want to talk about your cash flow, your working capital, and your margins in the quarter, which is inherent to the business. Also understand how this dynamic of hitting at a peak of costs, and now we're gonna have this reversion of costs. How will this impact your inventories and your working capital going forward? What I really wanna see here is, do you have any, if you see any need of raising working capital in the next few months, perhaps having a quarter, which will be a little bit more complicated in margins, but to unlock some working capital due to this cooling of costs and coming back with these volumes. How can we look at this in relation to these two items to conciliate these results, which are more timid with this movement of your cash flow?
The second point which I wanted to mention is talking about your portfolio. I think part of this SG&A, which came in higher in nominal terms, is related to your, doing better marketing of your products, winning new clients, something that we've talked about a lot. If you could talk to us a little bit how we should look at SG&A in nominal terms during the next quarters. I think it would be very interesting. Also on this side of the portfolio, how satisfied are you in relation to your strategy of focusing on the principal brands and bringing them to the southeast with the objective of defending yourself better and then going into the northeast as well, leaving your portfolio a little bit more premium? How satisfied are you with that as so far?
Rodrigo, good morning to you. Let's start with working capital. Your assumption is correct. We should liberate, free up some working capital. If you look at this will come in the next quarters, basically due to our inventories. We should see that liberating this working capital will happen in the next quarter. The next portfolio works with the full speed ahead. We started our sales convention this week. The focus of the convention, what we call focused on strategic items. All of these questions are related to this sale, this qualified sale, and this mix of higher added value, products with higher added value. These other revenues and these products present less than 5%, we think that we have a space for this to get to at least 10%.
Jasmine, which was the company which is gonna help us a great deal in this question of better margins and having a portfolio that's richer, was acquired only in November. We're still at the beginning of this process of integration and scaling up the company. We've had today all of our distribution centers are 28 around Brazil, and we're still receiving products from Jasmine. It's just starting to receive, even with companies that are not totally interconnected, but our distribution system is starting in 2023, and we'll see the capacity to distribute with the M. Dias trucks also delivering the Jasmine products. It's a trajectory which I would say is still between three and four in a scale of 10. The work is still going forward and will be focused in 2023.
Pass over to Fabio to add anything.
The only thing I would add is the SG&A. Our expectation is to maintain, as we have been signaled to you for a while, to maintain SG&A in a yearly vision at a rate close to 20% of net revenue. Remembering that there's a certain seasonality, an unfavorable seasonality in the first and fourth quarters. In these two quarters, SG&A as a percentage of net revenue is a little higher. In the second and third quarter, it's a little bit lower. In our vision, it hasn't changed. In the fourth quarter, it was a little bit above 21%, but it doesn't change in any way our vision.
I think that the highlight, being a little bit repetitive, is the important to point out that we had, starting in the fourth quarter, the inclusion, almost complete of all of the latest acquisitions in our SG&A, and especially Latinex and Jasmine, due to the growth of two-digit growth, at least two digits year-on-year. This will quickly dilute our fixed expenses and bring these companies to a EBITDA margin above the average of M. Dias.
If I can make a short follow-up on this point. There were several items, one-time expenses during the year and also in the fourth quarter.
Can we expect more movements, more expenses related to these strategic movements in the next quarters in relation to looking at the question of logistical readjustments and other items which might be one-off expenses which might again impact results?
Rodrigo, nothing that will take SG&A from this level of 20% for the year.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Thiago Duarte from BTG Pactual. Thiago, please go ahead.
Hi, good morning to Gustavo, Fabio. Thank you for the opportunity. I wanted to make two questions. The first is about the mix of channels. Part of what we saw, the growth of distributors and key accounts nationally and regionally, I think that was expected in a certain way, but it gives the impression that they're coming, largely on the account of the small retailers.
The small retailers. What I wanted to hear from you, a little bit about how should we imagine these sales, direct sales to direct retailers, direct sale to retailers, the participation that they might have in your business. Along these lines, how can this change of mix, at least in part, explain the pain felt on the gross margins? There are other factors which you mentioned about the pressures of commodities costs and so forth, I wanted to understand how the mix in channels will impact the gross margins of your business in terms of when you're at cruising speed, and how do you see this going forward.
The second question, I think that there's a certain expectation in relation to the transfer of these costs which are falling at the point of acquisition, especially for wheat, flour, and oil, which as this happened, it didn't happen as fast as we thought in the fourth quarter, as we saw in the fourth quarter. It's interesting to understand at what speed we should expect to see these falling prices affect margins. Looking at this trend, when we look at the levels of products ready to sell, it suggests that this transfer, this capture of costs, the costs falling might be happening a little more slowly, not only in the first quarter.
If you arrived at moments of margins, we saw you opening margins month-by-month during the quarter as a way to signal how this is happening. I don't suggest you do this right now, but if we can imagine when and with what intensity we could, we saw a little bit of this in the fourth quarter, or if you're seeing this in the first quarter, to understand the velocity of capture in these costs in the results due to the magnitude of the impact being relevant. If you could talk to me a little bit about that, I'd really appreciate it. Those are my two questions.
Okay. Thiago, I'm Gustavo. This is Gustavo. I'm going to start at the second question and then let Fabio, Fabio handle the first one. Transfer of cost.
What we're gonna do is, as we've commented in the opening of our quarterly numbers, it's important to look at a little bit more predictability to you. We're gonna do this in the first quarter of 2022. I think it's important due to this pass-through of costs. We're gonna try and open up January through March, also giving a little bit of color in relation to what we have. We're also already going to see the reduction of international costs, international prices, which will come in at the end of the first quarter should impact substantially, I would say almost completely in the second quarter of 2023. To be as objective as possible without going into any guidance. We also hope that the wheat won't get more expensive.
Looking at the first question, your first question, good morning.
In relation to the mix of channels, your reason is correct. We have observed over the last quarters an increase in the participation of distributors, which is a channel that we understand is necessary and very relevant, very important to accelerate the growth in the attack areas. Which differently from the North and Northeast regions and Rio de Janeiro, where we already have a distribution net, in-house, distribution, which is quite, fragmented, quite pulverized. In the other regions, we don't have that capillarity. This channel to gain this capillarity that we need in these other regions. I just wanted to also add on to what you said. The mix, yes, has changed, but it has in nominal terms, all of the channels grew. When we look at 2022 compared to 2021, we had growth, nominal growth of revenue in every channel.
There is not being a substitution. In other words, there's not being a transfer from revenue from the small retailers to the distributor. What's happening is a total growth, a more accelerated growth in the distribution channel when compared to the small retail channel. This principally due outside of the regions of the north and northeast. The question of margin, it is a channel which has a margin which is slightly below the margin that we have in the small retailers. Due to the dilution of fixed costs and fixed expenses, the impact of that is not relevant for our results. It doesn't remove the company from the potential for net profit, which is historical, which is between 15%-20% historically.
Okay, that's very clear. Thank you for your for your answers. Very clear.
Our next question comes from Guilherme Palhares from the Bank of America. Guilherme, please go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Yes. Now we hear you. Go ahead.
Good morning. I'm sorry. Excuse my intermittent problem here. As far as the question of pricing, we've been talking a lot about costs that the scenario has been improving for 2023. I wanted to understand a little bit when we look at the numbers of IPCA, we still see sequential increases month after month, both in cookies and crackers as well as in pastas. When we look at this scenario of cost deflation, how do you imagine in terms of pricing and the effect, we see that the average price of the company has gone up quite a bit above inflation during 2023.
When we look at this over 2022, in 2023, is it fair for us to consider that the same type of behavior would be repeated, whether it be due to launches or questions of packaging? If you can mention a little bit about how do you see the scenario of falling costs. My second question is in trying to understand when you look at the rest of the industry and the other millers and the other manufacturers, do you see their stocks being higher or lower? To having to understand a little bit how the increase of margins will happen in the entire chain. We know that we're going through a very difficult situation due to these higher costs, but how do you think it will happen, this return of costs?
I'd say up until what point there's a risk in your perception of having some type of competition, price competition, as costs come down.
Hi, this is Fabio. In relation to competition, starting with your question about competition, we don't have any information in detail to make any affirmation, but we imagine there will be a similar dynamic to the M. Dias dynamic, where our average price above inflation, increasing our price above inflation, you've touched the principal variables. Obviously, the readjustment of prices was necessary in 2020 due to the exchange rate changes and the high increase and the strong increase in prices in dollars of commodities. However, we know that companies are more sophisticated in their pricing pro-programs, and they're less and less dependent on the increase in prices to increase their average price.
An example was the Piraquê brand, which was our brand which grew the most during the year. It had growth of volume year-on-year of 11% versus 1% for M. Dias overall, and growth in net revenue of 36% Piraquê versus 30% for M. Dias. When we look at this in the cookies division, it's even more ex-accentuated. Volumes of Piraquê in cookies, which is the principal category of the brand, grew by 21%, whereas M. Dias was 0.2%. The net revenue for Piraquê grew by 39%, and of M. Dias, 30%. It's a brand which has an average price that's higher than the average of M. Dias and which is growing faster. This is reflected in the average price of the company.
There's also a whole bunch of work that's being done in relation to our mix with our innovations and our launches and our acquisitions. Jasmine, for example, has an average price of BRL 20 a kilo. Because the market Jasmine grows, even though it represents very little of our results, but the contribution that will give to our average price and gross margin with our faster growth is disproportional to its effect on our overall results. What we see a possibility of increasing prices over the year above inflation, not only due to readjustments, price adjustments, but also due to these other two levers, which is a question of, as I commented earlier, the comment, the questions I commented on earlier. Very well. Let me see if I understood.
We're looking at pricing in line with what inflation should be for the year, except for the mix effect, which is a premise which seems fair to have this scenario. Is that correct? What we're seeking is structurally have an average price less and less dependent on price readjustments. I'm gonna let you make your own calculations in your own model.
The question and answer session is now closed. We would like to pass the microphone over to Sir Gustavo for his final considerations.
I wanted to thank you all for your participation, let you know that our IR team is at your service for anything you might need to facilitate your models, and if you have any questions about the numbers.
Also leave a message that the company is in a correct trajectory, coming out more stronger from this challenging moment. Structurally, with its processes more robust and ready for growth, not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of quality, both qualitatively as well as quantitatively, with the effect Piraquê growing 11% when the industry grew by 1%. Structurally, the company is in the trajectory in variation, which is very well, seems to be very well placed. Thank you all for your participation and for future calls. Until the next one, thank you very much.
The video conference of M. Dias Branco is now closed. We thank you all for your participation, and please have a great day.