Morning, everyone. Welcome to SLC Agrícola's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Webcast. My name is Rodrigo Gelain, Financial and Investor Relations Manager. Joining me today are our CEO, Aurélio Pavinato, and our CFO and IRO, Ivo Brum. Thank you all for being here this morning. Please note that this webcast is being recorded and will be available on our IR website, along with the presentation. If you would like to listen to the simultaneous translation, you can find this tool on Zoom under the interpretation icon at the bottom of your screen.
You can choose your preferred language, either Portuguese or English. And for English listeners, you have the option to mute the original Portuguese audio, and in this case, you will hear only the translator's voice. For the Q&A session, please submit your questions via the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen.
For easier interaction, we will announce names so attendees can ask questions live. At that time, a prompt will appear on your screen to enable your microphone and camera. If you prefer not to go live, please write "no mic" at the end of your question, and I will read it aloud. We would like to emphasize that the information presented here, as well as any statements made during the webcast regarding SLC Agrícola's business outlook, projections, and operational and financial goals, reflect the beliefs and assumptions of the company's management, as well as information currently available. Forward-looking statements are not performance guarantees. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, as they relate to future events depending on circumstances that may or may not materialize.
Investors should understand that general economic conditions, market conditions, and other operational factors may impact SLC Agrícola's future performance, potentially leading to results that differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. I will now turn the floor over to our CEO, Aurélio Pavinato, to begin the presentation. Please proceed, Pavinato.
Thank you very much, Gelain. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in today's earnings webcast for Q3 2024. Moving to slide four, let's discuss the cotton market. During the quarter, cotton prices remained stable at around $0.70 per pound. The global balance, according to USDA data, shows a positive balance of one million bales. Spinning mills are managing inventory levels of raw materials and finished goods below historical averages, which has reduced future market liquidity and helped to moderate prices.
This conservative retrenching approach in the industry reflects increased risk aversion amid a challenging global environment with high interest rates, inflation, geopolitical tensions, and ongoing conflicts. We believe that stabilizing inflation in major cotton-consuming markets such as the United States and Europe could make market flows rebound again. The USDA projects US cotton production for the 2024-25 crop year at 14.2 million bales, higher than 2023-24, while Brazil's output is forecast to reach 16.8 million bales, maintaining Brazil's position as the world's largest cotton exporter.
On slide five, we look at the soybean market. The CBOT spot soybean contract and the Paranaguá CEPEA basis showed significant volatility in Q3 2024 due to expectations of a global supply increase. The USDA projects US soybean production for the 2024-25 cycle at 121.4 million tons, with Brazil expected to produce 166 million tons as per CONAB.
Global production is forecast to exceed demand by approximately 23 million tons, applying pressure on prices. Turning to slide six, let's discuss corn. Corn prices in the CBOT spot contract and Brazil's domestic market showed positive fluctuations during Q3 2024. This was driven by delays in soybean planting and higher premiums. The USDA projects U.S. corn production for 2024-25 at around 385 million tons, slightly lower than last year. CONAB expects Brazilian production to reach 120 million tons, up 3.5% from 2023-24. Argentina's planted area is estimated to shrink by 20.3%, with output dropping by 2.5 million tons, according to the Bolsa de Cereales, and Ukrainian production may also fluctuate due to weather factors, with expected production of 26 million tons.
Global output for 2024-25 is anticipated to be about 4 million tons short of consumption, with a stock-to-consumption ratio moving from 25.8%- 24.9%, which could support and sustain prices. Moving to slide eight, let's say a few words about our operational performance for 2023-24 crop year. The 2023-24 harvest is complete. Corn yields were affected by irregular rainfall and heat waves, particularly in the state of Maranhão.
Cotton harvest productivity met our projections, reaching a record milestone at the Pamplona Farm, with 164 arrobas per hectare, over 8,400 hectares. Final yields compared to the national average were as follows: soybeans, 3,276 kilos per hectare, 17% below budget, but still 2.3% above the national average. Cotton, 1,942 kilos per hectare, in line with projections, and 2.9% above the national average. Second crop, corn, 7,081 kilos per hectare, 6.7% below initial expectations, but 29% higher than the national average.
On slide nine, we outline hedging for the 2023-24 crop for soybeans. We've sold 99.6% at $12.34 per bushel. For cotton, we have sold 85.8% at $0.8206 per pound, and for corn, 96.4% was sold at BRL 48.30 per bag. Now I'll turn the floor over to our CFO and IRO, Ivo Brum, to discuss our financial performance.
Thank you very much. On slide 11, we highlight our income statement. Net revenue in the quarter remained stable, supported by higher volumes of cotton and soybean sales, offset partially by lower volumes and prices of the crops. Net income was affected by a decline in gross profit from corn and a negative adjustment in the biological asset value and net realizable stock value, though this was partially offset by tax credits for ICMS exemptions and other tax recognitions applicable by a court decision.
Adjusted EBITDA reached BRL 463 million, a margin of 28.4%, reflecting lower gross margins across crops. Cash generation for the quarter was positive at BRL 147.5 million, driven by the end of payments for inputs and the start of cotton and corn sales. On slide 12, we review the company's debt position. Adjusted net debt closed the quarter at BRL 4.2 billion, with a net debt-adjusted EBITDA ratio of two times. This position covers the 2023-24 crop costs, investments for the 2024-25 growth projects that are realized, and a significant portion of the 2023-24 crop sales still pending invoicing. On slide 13, we discuss our acquisition of SLC Land Co. We have acquired in October the minority interest of SLC Land Co. for BRL 525 million. This acquisition enhances flexibility in our asset strategies and expands SLC Agrícola's operations.
I'll now hand it back to Pavinato to discuss the 2024-25 and 2025-26 crop outlook.
On slide 15, we show planted area for the 2024-25 season, totaling 734,000 hectares, an 11% increase in comparison to 2023-24. Cotton area will expand by 1.8%, soybeans by 18.2%, and corn by 25.9%. On slide 16, we summarize our recent deals supporting this area increase for 2024-25. We have expanded our successful joint venture with Agro Penido, Pioneira Farm by adding 18,700 hectares with a planting potential, considering double cropping of 30,000 hectares. We established a new JV with Fazenda Preciosa Empreendimentos Agrícolas, SLC with a stake of 55% and 45% with Agropecuária Rica S.A. This will add 11,680 hectares, with a potential to double this area if you consider double cropping.
We also signed a lease in Piauí, adding a total area of 14,572 hectares, where we'll plant soybean and first crop cotton, and this will be incorporated to the Parnaguá Farm to explore synergies. Combined, the three deals add over 60,000 hectares for the 2024-25 season, 11% growth in planted area. On slide 17, we present the outlook for the 2024-25 crop. Soybean planting started at the end of September. Currently, approximately 80% of planting has been completed, with conditions now back to normal and crops developing soundly. We will now move on to slide 18, where we will discuss cost per hectare. The company has already purchased 100% of the fertilizers, 96% of the crop protection products for 2024-25. The total budgeted cost per hectare is BRL 6,666 per hectare, which represents a 5.2% decrease compared to 2023-24.
As we can observe in the first chart, the cost per hectare has been decreasing over the last two harvests. Our successful strategy in acquiring key inputs and the return of prices to levels near historical averages have contributed to this reduction. In the second chart, the 2024-25 season, we present our budget for the cost per hectare by crop. Our estimate is that there will be a decrease of 2.9% in cotton, soybeans by 8.3%, and corn by 7.8%.
Let's move now to slide 19, where we discuss the current hedge positions for 2024-25 and 2025-26. We have continued the sales for the 2024-25 soybean harvest. With the current commitments, we have reached 63.6% of the estimated production. We have locked in 44% of the cotton production and 18% of the corn. Additionally, we have taken advantage of favorable exchange rate fluctuations to lock in the sale of crops.
For the 2025-26 harvest, we have started purchasing fertilizers, having acquired 80% and 80% of potassium chloride, and simultaneously, we have sold 33% of the soybeans at $11.33 per bushel. On slide 20, we show our seed sales forecast for 2025. Our estimated sales of soybean seeds for third parties, plus internal consumption, now stand at 1,400,000 sacks, a 12% increase compared to the previous year.
For cotton seeds, the sales target for third parties, plus internal consumption, is now 145,000 bags, a 1.2% increase compared to the previous year. Now let's turn to slide 22 to highlight some of our achievements and awards in ESG. We have once again received the Gold Seal from the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. This is the highest level of recognition granted to companies that fully inventory their emissions and have their data verified by a third party.
We have received the MESC Award for the third time, an important recognition granted by the MESC Institute for best companies in customer satisfaction. This is for the sales business. Finally, we were honored for the sixth time with the Transparency Trophy from ANEFAC, the National Association of Finance Administration and Accounting Executives, recognizing our transparency and the quality of our financial statements. Thank you, and now we will open the floor for the Q&A session.
We will now begin the Q&A session. We kindly ask you to submit your questions in writing all at once and to wait for the company's response. Please remember to send your questions by using the Q&A icon located at the bottom of your screen. As usual, your names will be announced so that you can ask your question live.
At that time, a prompt will appear on your screen asking you to activate your microphone and camera. If you wish not to activate your microphone and camera, please write "no microphone, no camera" so that I can read it aloud. [Foreign Language] .
Our first question is from Pedro Fonseca, XP. Good morning, Pedro. Please open your microphone and carry on with your question. [Foreign Language] .
Hello, good morning. Good morning, Pavinato, Ivo, Gelain. Thank you very much.
Pedro Fonseca, XP, could you please activate your microphone and camera? [Foreign Language] Can you hear me? [Foreign Language] Hello, can you hear me? [Foreign Language] Ok, ok. I'll call you back, Pedro. Okay, let's go on with the questions. [Foreign Language] .
From Henrique Bustolin, Bradesco, please ask your question. [Foreign Language]
Good morning, can you hear me? [Foreign Language] Pavinato, Ivo, Gelain, can you hear me? [Foreign Language]
I just received information that everybody else can hear the questions, but we cannot get the questions in the room, so please stand by a second. Okay, we couldn't hear the first two questions. [Foreign Language] But while we are solving this issue. We received a question from Pedro Gama, Citibank, and he submitted the question in writing, so we are going to take this question first, and as soon as we resolve the technical issues, we go back to the usual procedure. So this is a question from Pedro Gama, Citibank.
The first question is: Could you please comment on the planting process and yield expectations for soybeans? Are you in line with expectations? Apparently, weather will go back to normal in future months, and because we've had a higher volume of rainfall in recent days, do you think that we'll achieve productivity or soybean yield above guidance? Would you like me to read the second question?
No, let's answer this first question first, so, Pedro, about soybeans, I think that your understanding is correct. We had a shortage of rain in the initial phase. There was a delay in planting, but after that, we were able to make up for lost time, so we planted in an excellent window in Bahia, Maranhão, and Mato Grosso do Sul. We are planting at the right time with high production potential.
So, in other words, our expectations for soybeans this year are very positive. That is, we are enjoying full potential of soybeans right now. [Foreign Language]
Good morning, everyone. Unfortunately, we've had a technical issue, and we'll be back in a couple of seconds. Please bear with us. [Foreign Language] . Good morning. We are back. Okay, we're back.
Can you hear me now?
Yes. Who's this?
This is Pedro from XP.
Hello, Pedro. My apologies. We had a technical problem. Pedro, could you please repeat your question? Pedro? [Foreign Language]
I think it's good now. Good morning, Pavinato, Gelain, and Alessandra. Thank you for taking my question. I have actually two questions. The first one is about your hedging strategy.
Pavinato said a few words about it in the beginning of the webcast, but I would like to know what are the triggers for advancing the locking process, especially soybeans and cotton, and what we can expect for the coming month. If you could also include the FX considerations, this would be great because I think that you have a, you know, a good position in that. We would like to hear also your vision because, of course, you have more visibility about the moves in cotton in Brazil. Some relevant players are saying that they're migrating to corn because of the delay in soybeans. Do you think that the current cotton area in Brazil could eventually lead to frustrated expectations?
Thank you very much, Pedro. Two very important strategic questions.
In the case of hedging with soybean, well, soybean is the culture or crop today that is increasing stocks today, and this, of course, puts pressure on soybean prices and also applies pressure on the prices of other commodities. When we consider stocks of other crops such as wheat, corn, and cotton, there is no overstocking. In fact, the carryover stocks are lower than historical averages, but soybean will continue to apply this pressure for some time. There are excellent expectations for the American season, and this should continue until the next season. That's why we started the hedging for the 2024-25 season in this level. And at the same time, we are trying to lock in the portion of dollars that we can lock when there is a peak in the FX rate. For 2025-26, we are well hedged in soybean.
In cotton, we have evolved with 24% of the crop also locked, and we also waited for better prices for prices to rebound. It reached $0.73-$0.74 in New York plus premium, and at the same time, we were able to lock FX at a higher level. So the postponement of our hedging for cotton was very convenient. And when we look at the overall picture, considering prices and production costs, the 2024-25 season had downward adjustments of prices.
Prices in BRL should be sustained at the same levels as in the previous season because the price reduction in US dollars is now being offset by higher FX rates. So that's why the 2024-25 season is now in a more normal profitability scenario, especially because we expect a full harvest since conditions of weather are back to normal. In inputs, there were a reduction in the previous crop year, 2023-24.
They amounted to 10%, and because of the drought and replanting and some pests, there was a 7% cost reduction and now 5%, 5 additional % in the new season. We purchased potassium for 2025-2026. Why? Because in our historical perspective, it's being traded at the lowest levels and at a price that is lower than the price we use for the current season. So in potassium, we fix, we locked production costs for 2025-2026 at prices lower than 2025-2026, of course, this in USD.
So this is our hedging in a nutshell, and FX is now favoring us. We are, you know, it's helping us go back to a normal position. Commodity prices are being traded low, but the foreign exchange rate is helping us. In relation to cotton, Brazil is really taking a prominent position as a producer and exporter of cotton.
This is the good part of the story. Of course, the negative part of the story are our logistics bottlenecks. So this increases export costs for us and carryover costs for 12 months, of course. And in Brazil, what we envisioned two months ago is that corn was in a bad scenario, low prices, and producers were planting more cotton. With the delay of soybean, the second crop cotton was moved to the second fortnight of February, and depending on the region, probably actually moving into January, end of January.
So depending on the cultivar, this can be postponed to February. And corn, in corn, there was a recovery in the international market. So the FX helps us, and the national industry, the cattle industry shows strong demand for corn, and also the ethanol market is showing a pickup in demand for corn.
All of this will perhaps lead producers or farmers to plant less cotton and plant more corn in the 2024-2025 crop. This is going to be helpful. Cotton growth will be curbed, and this will help us also in international prices.
Thank you very much, Pavinato. Very complete answer. We're very grateful. By the way, as a comment, considering the more favorable cost scenario, we talked a lot about the floor of production costs at around $9.5 or $10 per bushel for American farmers. In this scenario with more benign costs, do you think anything will change in the floor, production floor for American farmers?
Yes. What has changed in fertilizer costs is potassium. Potassium dropped a little more, with phosphorus is the opposite. MAP has increased, shown increased prices in recent months.
When we look at the fertilizer basket globally, they are in accordance with historical levels. Of course, if we eliminate outliers. But when I compare fertilizer prices in the pre-pandemic era with the prices we are paying right now, they are still 20% higher. Well, of course, I'm talking about pre-pandemic levels because we know that there were peaks in prices, you know, from the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic era, inputs were very low in price at $9.5-$10 per bushel. And when we consider inflation during the period, by the way, inflation in the United States from in the last five years has reached 21%. So if we take into consideration the inflation rate, we see that fertilizers are back to pre-pandemic levels, which I consider to be low.
So the American cost, so is there room for greater drops in American prices?
I think very little because potassium maybe will be a little cheaper, but phosphorus and nitrogen are more expensive, and so we see that there were some Americans who purchased nitrogen fertilizers at lower prices than we are buying right now, so, you know, sometimes there are oscillations in nitrogen costs, so when I look at the price formation in America, I don't expect that there will be a cost reduction, so it will continue to be high, but this is a consequence of inflation, so in my vision, I don't see much room for a decrease in costs in the United States. You know, here too, the $10 soybean, which was the historical average, this is no longer the case. $10 is bad for global farmers. With this exchange rate up to $10, this is not good.
In our understanding, thinking of Chicago, soybeans should be at $11-$12, considering the historical levels, adding inflation, $11-$12. This would be the level that would adequately remunerate the growers, both in Brazil and the United States.
Thank you, Pavinato. Extremely clear.
Thank you, Pedro. Our next question is from Henrique Bustolin, Bradesco. Good morning, Bradesco. Could you please open or activate your microphone and camera? Bom dia.
Good morning, Pavinato. Good morning, Ivo, Gelain. Thank you very much for answering my questions. Two points I would like to talk about. First, cotton in terms of volume and margins. Well, you know, from the previous season, you carried over a higher level of stocks, now record production, and we get the impression that perhaps stock levels are higher than had been anticipated in the last year. So what do you expect?
How are you planning to trade the exceeding volume, especially in 25?
We see also an expansion of the unit margin quarter on quarter, and I would like to know what it reflects in terms of the mix of the crop year. We see now that we, you know, the volume of 23-24. So these are the points in cotton. And quickly, when we look at the 23-24 season costs, it was a little above budget, you know, 3-5 BRL per hectare. So I would like to know what's behind this revision and if there's anything that we should take into account for the analysis of next year. Thank you, Henrique, for the question. I will talk firstly about cotton margins. So, as you said, we are now completing the shipping of the 22-23 crop year, and then, you know, cotton for 23-24 is starting to be shipped.
Prices are a little lower for this crop year. Corn prices decreased, you know, there was a reduction of 5.2%, but prices went down 18%. This led to a decrease in margins. As we said, it was a year of tighter margins, but I think that corn, you know, is really delivering well, and this is offsetting. We have some farms that are with higher yields than others. This depends on the product and the variety, but along the next month, we'll be shipping out this cotton closer to the prices we have already announced with a slight increase. Instead of a reduction of 10%, we have now, we stand now at 7%. Henrique, about the carrying, yes, we are shipping cotton in 12 months. You know, in the second half last year was one of the worst times for us.
We have a high carryover, and in, you know, this year, in September, October, November, we still have, you know, a significant volume of the 2024 harvest. If you look at the, you know, comparison between production costs that were announced and budgeted, usually there's a variation that's under 1%. The exception to that is when we have a strong appreciation of the exchange rate, and then inputs that are purchased in dollars, of course, cause an impact.
You know, we were using 5.4 as the exchange rate. If the exchange rate goes up to 5.7, then there will be an impact. But in relation to the previous crop year, that drought with the loss of 17,000 hectares of soybeans that were replanted, cotton and the replanting of 28,000, and what happened last year with the drought creating pressure in pests, including the white fly.
All of this created a higher demand for insecticides. So in the 2024 harvest, we had an expressive loss in soybeans, a loss in yields, and at the same time, also under the influence of the drought, we had a decrease in yields. So that's why we had this discrepancy. And our expectation for 2024 and 2025 is that we won't have these overruns in production costs. The exception, of course, is the foreign exchange rate and considering also the historical levels of production.
Thank you, very clear.
Thank you, Henrique.
So we started by answering Pedro Gama's question from Citibank, and he said that, you know, he dropped from the call. Pedro, you're back on. Can you please activate your microphone and camera to ask your question?
[Foreign Language] Hello, good morning, Ivo, Pavinato, Gelain.
The connection dropped, and I will repeat them here. I have two questions, in fact. Firstly, could you tell us about the planting process and the expectations of soybean yields? Because we expect very regular weather for the coming month. And so I would like to understand if you're planting according to expectations, and will SLC reach soybean yield above what has been announced for the 2024 year?
For 2026, I think it's a little bit early, but we see that you started locking soybeans and foreign exchange at high levels this month.
But what are the initial expectations for that crop year? So could we think, for example, of maintenance of the unit cost in BRL with an increase of the EBITDA margin? And secondly, can we expect that the growth in planted area is a strategy that will be sustained?
Thank you. Thank you, Pedro.
About productivity and yield, well, we started to plant a little bit later in Mato Grosso because rainfall began at the end of September and early October, but we made up for lost time, so soybeans took place in an area, or rather at a time that was very advantageous for yields, and in the other regions, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Bahia, Maranhão, we are planting in an excellent window, so up to now, the soybean crop shows maximum potential, and we expect normal weather conditions, so the expectations for soybean yields are excellent. I talked about 25, 26 in a very summarized way.
All of the prices point to low prices in commodities, and there's no more room for downward price adjustments in inputs, so the official scenario is that 25, 26 would be a crop year with tight margins for the sector.
Then it will depend on how you can lock your costs at the time you lock your costs so that you can secure better margins. This is the base scenario for 2025, 2026, especially because in soybean prices, the scenario indicates that they will go down even further. Cotton prices will remain flat, and so will corn. Now, if the exchange rate remains high, dollar cost starts to go down because everything that is sold and bought in BRL is lower when you denominate this in US dollars. In the case of our purchases of potassium, we believe that, you know, input prices will remain the same for the 2025, 2026 crop year. So we don't expect many variations in inputs for that season. So the EBITDA margin will depend on the yields and the timing for locking prices.
But when you look at the overall sectors, that the 2025, 2026 crop year will be very similar to 2024, 2025 in terms of yield and profitability. We have a growth strategy, by the way, turning to growth. We want to continue growing 5% a year. There will be years in which we'll grow a little more. This year, we're growing 11%, a recovery from what we didn't grow last year. And in the next year, we'll continue to expand our areas depending on the opportunities that emerge.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Pedro.
So let's continue now. Our next question is from Larissa Pérez, JP Morgan. Good morning, Larissa. Could you please activate your microphone and camera?
[Foreign Language] . I have two questions.
One about the impact of the American election and another one about cash generation. What can we expect? Do you think that the trade war between the United States and China will be back? And the second question is about cash generation for 2024. What can we expect for 2025? What are the main lines, especially considering CapEx for 2025? Thank you.
This is it from me. Thank you very much, Larissa, for the questions. I'll answer the first one. About Trump, the winner of the American election, the question is how intense the trade war will be in the comparison Trump 1 to Trump 2. What will be Trump's actions after he takes office? The scenario for commodities and the world scenario is quite different from what it was in 2016, 2018, when the trade war began.
In the case of soybeans in China, in the 2017-18 crop season, China imported 30% of its commodities from the United States. In the previous season, only 20% of soybeans to China came from the United States. In the case of cotton, it was 46%, now only 33%. So China's stocks were low at the time with under 30 million tons of inventory. Now they have, you know, 14 million. So China is now much better stocked and depends far less on the United States as a supplier. So in our vision, the 2025 trade war will be more attenuated and less intense than it was in 2018. This is our perspective. And of course, everything will boil down to Trump's actions. About cash generation, especially in 2024, we lost 17% of productivity in soybean. So this represents BRL 500 million.
We are growing now significantly our planted area with 60,000 hectares. We have invested BRL 850 million to prepare the land, and we had, you know, the cash generation reduction of BRL 500 million. So we expect that there will be a recovery in soybean this year because the weather is much more favorable. We planted in a good window, so we are growing. This will also increase cash generation, and we'll invest pretty much, you know, the same we invested. We had invested in BRL 23,900 million. This is the, you know, the historical level of investment every year between BRL 800 million to BRL 900 million. We're talking about warehouses, new machinery, and we have to factor in our growth. So if we don't grow, CapEx could go down. But if we maintain our expansion, CapEx should remain the same.
It's difficult to make predictions right now because of the current exchange rate. Let's remember, 500 million soybeans were not included in our cash this year. And, you know, and this, you know, probably next year, this is going to be reversed.
Thank you very much. Very clear.
Thank you, Larissa.
Our next question is from Laura Hirata, Santander. Good morning, Laura. Could you please activate your camera and microphone? [Foreign Language] .
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking my question. I would like to talk about, you know, about the end of the moratorium, and I would like to know about the impacts that you envision in relation to land prices.
Thank you. Bom dia, Laura. Good morning, Laura. This situation is not going to end, in my view.
The Green Deal will impose additional restrictions, which is, you know, the impairment of anything, any areas cleared after 2021. Forest areas and the Cerrado actually will not be included in these restrictions. In spite of those policies that were implemented, I think that the agreement will continue to prevail. The land prices will not show excessive variation as a result of that. Europe will not import soybeans from deforested areas, regardless of any political restrictions in our country. So the practical effect will be very minimal. There's a lot of noise around this topic about the Soy Moratorium, but the effect will be very slight.
Thank you very much, Ivo and Pavinato.
Thank you, Laura.
Next question is from Victor, UBS. Victor, please activate your camera and microphone. [Foreign Language] .
[Foreign Language] Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for answering my question.
Just two quick follow-ups, if I may, and a question. Going back to yields, in spite of the weather challenges in the beginning of the crop year, you were able to make advances in planting, and you maintain the expectations in relation to yield and cost. Do you see any risks to that situation? And also, you talked about the level of growth of 5% a year. So what is the maximum leverage that you can reach? And also, in the seed business, you know, we saw a very significant increase, but there's still, you know, the capacity of 2 million bags of soybean seeds. Is it more of an operational or commercial issue that is stopping you from getting better? Productivity, you know, we planted at the optimal time of the year. What additional risks do we have now?
We have, you know, a concentration of the harvest in Mato Grosso in the second fortnight of January. So if this fortnight is very rainy, this could be, you know, a risk. That's the only thing. This is the only risk that we have determined. We have, you know, many machines to do the harvest, but that's the risk that increased harvest risk in the case of soybeans. As for the seeds, it's a marketing issue. It's acquiring market share. So we are reinforcing our sales team. We are growing gradually so that we can develop this market. All additional sales are now being targeted at our neighbors. So we need the industrial capacity to produce more. We have a lot of room to grow, but we are developing this market for us gradually. Leverage.
We have a limit, a limit that is established at four times, but we want to be much below this limit. We think that below two times, we have a lot of potential for growth, and, you know, when we go over two times, we will reduce our velocity of growth. So right now, we have, you know, precisely two times. So it's a very good moment to growth. There are opportunities showing up. Margins are lower, which, and this is putting pressure on growers. Some land is being offered in the market, so we are analyzing the opportunity. So maybe we can go a little over two times, maybe three times, and this is all, you know, playing by the book. Because, you know, when we talk about growing significantly, we'll reduce our leverage.
We didn't grow in the last two or three years after the acquisition of Terra Santa. And we actually engaged in a stock buyback program because we had just too much cash, and we couldn't find the good projects with adequate returns. Now we see good projects with adequate returns, and that's why we grew our land in 60,000 hectares for the next season.
Thank you, very clear.
Well, if we have no further questions, this earnings webcast about the third quarter 2024 SLC is now closed. The investor relations department will be happy to take any questions you might have. Thank you very much to all participants and have a great day.