Note that this webcast is being recorded and will be available on the company's investor relations website together with the presentation. For those who require simultaneous interpretation, this feature is available under the globe icon labeled Interpretation. You will find it at the bottom center of your screen. You should choose your preferred language, Portuguese or English. For those listening to the webcast in English, you may also mute the original Portuguese audio by selecting Mute Original Audio. For the Q&A session, we kindly ask you that questions be submitted through the Q&A icon located at the bottom of your screen. As usual, your name will be announced so that you may ask your question live. At that time, a prompt will appear requesting activation of your screen.
We would like to remind you that information that is presented in this webcast, as well as any statements regarding business outlook, projection, and operational and financial targets of SLC Agrícola represent the management's beliefs and assumptions and are based on information that is currently available. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they refer to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, market dynamics, and other operational factors may affect our future performance and could lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. With that, I would like to turn the call over to our CEO, Aurélio Pavinato, so we can begin the presentation. Pavinato, please proceed.
Thank you, André. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to SLC Agrícola's Earnings Conference Call for the Fourth Quarter of 2025. We appreciate the attendance of our shareholders, analysts, and other participants. In this presentation, we will review the main operational, financial, and strategic highlights of the period, which reflect another year of consistent execution of our strategy focused on sustainable growth and long-term value creation. Turning to slide four, let's discuss the cotton market. In 2025, cotton prices closed the period at approximately $0.65 per pound. This reflects a market environment still under pressure by global supply and demand fundamentals. For the 2024/2025 crop, the United States Department of Agriculture estimates global consumption at approximately 20 million bales, while global production is projected at around 118.5 million bales, resulting in a slight global deficit.
Brazil continues to consolidate its position as the world's leading cotton exporter, accounting for approximately 1/3 of global trade. This is supported by structural gains in productivity, competitiveness, and international recognition of the quality of Brazilian cotton fiber. In line with this scenario, SLC Agrícola achieved a historical export record in 2025 with 369,000 tons exported, the largest exporter in Brazil, which demonstrates our strong operational capacity and competitiveness in the global market. Looking ahead to the 2025-2026 crop, expectations point to a slight global surplus, which keeps the pricing environment somewhat challenging. However, market fundamentals may improve as global economic activity continues to recover. In summary, cotton delivered a moderate year with stable fundamentals and prospects for improvement over the medium term. Let's now move to slide five to discuss the soybean market.
International soybean prices experienced significant volatility throughout the year, influenced mainly by the progress of the South American harvest and expectations regarding the US crop. Part of this pressure in Brazil was offset by positive export premiums and exchange rate dynamics. Planted area in Brazil expanded by approximately 2%, reaching 48.4 million hectares, according to data from the National Supply Company, CONAB. At the global level, the USDA projects a supply surplus of approximately 3 ,000,000 tons, one of the smallest positive balances observed in recent years. Overall, the year was positive in production volumes and export performance, although price conditions remain challenging, reinforcing the importance of commercial discipline and operational efficiency. Moving on to slide six, we will now discuss the corn market.
In 2025, the corn market showed distinct dynamics between domestic and international, with particular emphasis on strong domestic demand, largely driven by the expansion of Brazil's corn ethanol industry. Despite short-term negative price movements in global markets, corn prices found important support in the domestic market. At the global level, the balance between supply and demand indicated production exceeding consumption by 11 ,000,000 tons. Corn, therefore, showed less dependence on export markets and increased its relevance in domestic consumption. Now let's move to slide eight, where we present our operational performance for the 2024/2025 crop year. The crop delivered solid operational performance, where for soybeans, we achieved an average yield of 3,961 kg per hectare, representing 21% growth compared with the previous crop.
8,274 kg per hectare in corn, representing a new historical record for the company. I would now like to turn the call over to my colleague, Ivo Brum, who will walk us through the financial highlights. Ivo, please go ahead.
Thank you, Pavinato. Good morning. Please, let's move to slide 10, where we will highlight some key figures in our income statement. Net revenue for the year reached BRL 8.6 billion, driven primarily by record sales and revenue generation, reflecting the strong productivity recovery, especially for soybeans and corn, as well as higher corn for corn, cottonseed, and the cattle herd. During the period, we recorded adjusted EBITDA of BRL 2.6 billion, an EBITDA margin of 31.2%, and net income of BRL 565.2 million, representing growth of 17.3%.
Cash generation for the period was BRL -929.4 million, reflecting the investment cycle. These investments included BRL 229 million related to SLC LandCo, BRL 362 million related to Fazenda Paladino, and BRL 383 million corresponding to the first installment of the acquisition of Sierentz Agro. In addition, we distributed BRL 641 million in dividends, BRL 241 million related to the dividends, and BRL 400 million corresponding to advanced payment of dividends and interest on equity for the fiscal year. Moving on to slide 11, we discuss our debt position. Despite our robust investment cycle, we closed the year with adjusted net debt of BRL 5.2 billion, maintaining controlled leverage between net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 1.97x. This result highlights the company's financial discipline.
On slide 12, we discuss our debt profile. Currently, 78% of our debt is long-term, with an average maturity of 1,168 days. This is an improvement compared to 2024, where 69% of the company's debt was long-term. This evolution reinforces our balance sheet resilience and enhances our ability to finance growth with discipline. As for the investments in 2025, we present the breakdown between maintenance CapEx and expansion CapEx. During the year, 68% of our capital expenditure was allocated to expansion investments totaling BRL 1.2 billion, reflecting our structure growth and expanded productive capacity. We also invested in infrastructure, storage facilities, machinery, agricultural equipment, and soil improvement. Maintenance CapEx represented 32%, totaling BRL 556 million, reinforcing SLC Agrícola's commitment to asset preservation, operational continuity, and business sustainability.
Additionally, the company recorded an increase of BRL 342 million in fixed assets related to the acquisition of Sierentz Agro, also classified as expansion CapEx. In slide 14, we take a look at our seed business. In 2025, total seed distribution reached 61,401 big bags, up 12.6% year-over-year. Of this total, 12,464 big bags were transferred in intercompany operations. For soybean seeds, performance closed the year very close to target, only 0.6% below the original estimate, while still delivering 13.8% growth compared with the previous year, which is to be expected. For cotton, seeds performance came in 10.5% below target.
This is a sign of a market that's still developing, but remains a strategic opportunity over the medium and long term. In line with our growth and margin expansion strategy, we continue to expand direct sales channels to third parties. This resulted in 5.7% growth in build volumes to this customer segment. Additionally, we expanded our regional presence and market share. Advancing to slide 15, we talk about the distribution. Management confirms the distribution of adjusted net income of the parent company. During 2025, the company already distributed BRL 400 million in dividends and interest on equity. This distribution corresponds to a dividend yield of 5.6% and a payout of 76%, demonstrating the company's commitment to the consistent shareholder remuneration even in a year of strong expansion and investments.
I will turn now the floor over to Pavinato, who will discuss the outlook for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 crop years.
Okay. On slide 17, we are going to demonstrate the evolution of the planted area. We continue to make consistent progress in expanding the planted area, reaching 14% and totaling 837,000 hectares in line with our asset-light strategy. Now, let's review slide 18 to check the status of the current crop. For soybeans, as of March 6, 54% of the planted area had already been harvested. We expect to conclude the harvest with a productivity of 4,036 kg per hectare in line with the original plan and our track record. For cotton, both the first and second crops are 100% planted. The first crop is developing well with positive yield potential.
For the second crop, cotton, despite rainfall in January, planting was completed within the historically optimal window after adjustments in planted area for alternative crops. We expect to reach our target. For second crop corn, planting began in the second half of January, and up to March 6, 72% of the 58,000 hectare area had already been planted. Planting is expected to be completed by mid-March, with productivity projected in line with the original plan. For seeds, sales estimates for 2026 are 72,000 big bags of soybean seeds, up 8% compared with 2024, and 6,280 big bags of cotton seeds, also up 8% year-over-year. Now, moving to slide 19, we are going to talk about the hedging position for the 2025/2026 crop year.
We are already well hedged, ensuring greater predictability in a more volatile market environment. All inputs have been already purchased. In soybeans, considering existing commitments, we reached 75% of estimated production already hedged. In cotton, 81% of the production has been fixed, and in corn, 44% of the production has been hedged. We have also implemented currency hedges aligned with commodity sales. This mitigates both price and exchange rate risks. For the 2026/2027 crop, we've made early progress in our input procurement strategy. We acquired 100% of phosphate fertilizers and 16% of crop protection products. This, of course, preserves our margins. Given current geopolitical tensions and planting decisions in the United States, we believe that the moment calls for prudence and discipline, particularly in risk management and capital allocation. Advancing to slide 20, we will discuss our irrigation projects.
Irrigation continues to be one of the main strategic growth drivers for the company. Currently, we operate 19,000 hectares under irrigation with expansion potential to 53,000 hectares in coming years. As part of this strategy, of course, we are going to see appreciation of the assets. As part of this strategy, we established a partnership with private equity funds managed by BTG. Strengthening our capital structure and accelerating irrigation expansion in the state of Bahia. This partnership already enabled the inflow of BRL 974 million in 2024, and partially in 2026, and will have BRL 120 million expected in 2026. These resources will be used in the irrigation of 21,000 additional hectares in farms Piratini and Paladino. At Fazenda Piratini, the project's already underway and is expected to reach 13,000 irrigated hectares by 2026.
At Fazenda Paladino, irrigation will be incorporated from the early development stage, covering 4,730 hectares with implementation expected between 2028 and 2030, subject to regulatory approvals. This initiative reinforces the asset-light model, accelerates the economic value of our assets, reduces climate risks, and expands the company's long-term cash generation and land appreciation potential in total alignment with our growth strategy. Now, let's take a look at our ESG highlights. The ESG agenda remains fully integrated into the company's corporate strategy. We established strategic partnerships for regenerative agriculture and carbon credits. We advanced initiatives in circular economy and completed in partnership with Fluere, the largest automated greenhouse gas emission measurements initiative in Brazilian agribusiness, monitoring 100% of our area. Finally, we share in slide 22 some of our highlights in ESG and awards.
SLC Agrícola received broad recognition for its practices and results in 2024. We got the Sustainable Farm Award, the Brazilian GHG Protocol Gold Seal, the ESG award from Exame Magazine, and also SLC Seeds got the MASC award. We also received recognition from Great Place to Work Brazil and awards for Best Investor Relations Professional, Best IR Practice, Small and Middle Cap that were granted by APIMEC. In addition, SLC Agrícola ranked first in the Institutional Investor Survey in 2025 in both the agribusiness and small cap categories, achieving first place in all categories evaluated by the Latin America executive team. This reinforces our position as a reference in governance, strategy, and investor relations. Thank you all for participating, and we will now open the floor for our Q&A session. André?
We will now begin the Q&A session. Please remember to submit your questions via the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen. Your names will be announced so that you can ask your questions live, and at that time a prompt will appear requesting activation of your microphone and camera. If you prefer not to activate your microphone or camera, please type "no mic" at the end of your question and I will read it aloud. Our first question is from Gabriel Barra, Citi. Gabriel, please go ahead and activate your camera and microphone. Gabriel, are you with us? Okay, in this case, let's move on to the second question from Isabella Simonato, Bank of America. Isabella, could you please start your camera and microphone?
I'm sorry. I have my questions here. I have, in fact, two questions. I would like to understand t he impact of the Middle East impact, we saw, of course, an increase in prices of fertilizers and oil because of the crisis. What do you think about the impact of this on the prices of grains? It seems that the company is poised for an upside in this conflict because most of the costs have been fixed, and I would like to understand if it makes sense to believe that the increase in grain prices will be delayed since there is an expectation of expansion in inventories for the 2025/ 2026 crop. Also in relation to the conflict, of course, raw materials are being affected in Asia and the Middle East. How do you view the dynamic for cotton? Because probably polyester would take a hit from the crisis.
Good morning, Gabriel. Thank you very much for the question. You really went into all the hot topics, you know, the war and its impacts basically. Gabriel, in summary, high oil prices is good for agricultural commodities, and that's why we saw a positive impact in soybean prices with a slight recovery also in corn. Why is that the case? Because today, agricultural commodities, of course they are many times commodities related to food. Sorry, we're getting some cuts. They contribute 100,000,000 tons. You know, the oil is of course now being taken by biofuel. Since oil went up over 40%, soybean oil also grew 40% in the period. This is a driver for commodities as a source of energy, just like corn.
In our perspective, you know, high oil prices, high energy prices end up being very positive for agricultural commodities. This is definitely an upside and specifically in relation to cotton. In cotton specifically, the first impression that we're getting is that the conflict might lead to sluggish demand. However, sluggish demand, but our main competitor in fiber is polyester, and polyester was $0.40 /lb , and it's now at $0.54 /lb . It means that with the rise in polyester prices, of course this is going to boost, you know, the competition between the two fibers. Obviously, with the increasing oil prices and polyester prices, cotton prices will be sustained, and there will be greater motivation for an increase in cotton prices.
In our understanding, the rise in energy prices will have a positive impact in the agricultural commodity cycles, just like in the past, in previous conflicts. Now, of course, there is also an impact in production costs, especially in nitrogen, which is one of our inputs. This is the biggest impact. Even though the volume produced by Iran in urea is not very significant, the world produces and uses 120 ,000,000 tons of nitrogen, and Iran produces 3.15 million tons only, and it exports 1.35 million tons of nitrogen. Therefore, the exports represent 1.2% of global consumption. Besides that, in an event like this with very substantial increases in fertilizer prices. Sorry, we're having cuts.
70% of fertilizer consumption happen in the northern hemisphere, and now they're going to be planting very soon. There is a short-term effect that will be felt by the northern hemisphere. That's why we are feeling very self-assured right now in relation to the oscillations which are bound to be positive rather than negative.
Thank you very much. That was very clear.
Thank you, Gabriel Barra. Now, let's turn to the floor over to Isabella Simonato, Bank of America. Could you please ask your question, and activate your camera and audio?
Good morning. Can you see me? Thank you very much, everyone, for this conference call. I think that also discussing the grain market. Let's start firstly with cotton, because when we take a look at the preliminary USDA data, we see that, you know, the stocks level are dwindling. In fact, with depressed demand, you see that the prices are really not growing that much. My question is, what's your understanding of this number? Could we see a recovery of cotton prices because, you know, the supply-demand equation is tighter now, or do we need to see increased demand to drive up prices? Well, of course, I'm here, of course, excluding the oil variable from this equation. Also in relation to the American crop that's about to start, we see the preliminary USDA data, but what's your understanding, considering the recent rally in fertilizers?
Do Americans need to buy something? Do you think this could lead to a slightly smaller planted area and even a rotation from corn to soybeans? Is this expected, or how do you think that the Americans will behave? And how do you see China as a buying market for American soybeans? I think this is a very important point for the demand in the next 12 months. At the end of the day, ex the conflict, impact and how do you envision the supply and demand soybean balance?
Thank you very much, Isabella. About cotton, indeed, demand for cotton has been stable. Production has been stable as well. That's why the supply and demand balance is quite stable. Cotton prices went down in recent years more because of competition with polyester. Polyester prices decreased to $0.50 /lb . Now with polyester prices going up, it sustains cotton prices. With cotton below $0.70 /lb , there was a reduction in areas. For example, in the United States, it went from. In India, in fact, it went down to 11.2 million, and from, in the United States from, 4.1 . In Australia as well, and they planted around 600,000-650,000 hectares only for exports competing with Brazil, and this year they planted only 470,000 hectares. Low cotton prices in the last two years was one of the reasons why the main competitors did not plant as much cotton.
Brazil continued to expand in recent years, and only, you know, when the cotton went below $0.70, Brazil also made an adjustment in its planted area by reducing it by 5%. All of the reductions in different geographies led to a smaller demand for cotton. Since polyester is going to become more expensive, we have been feeling a steadier demand for cotton. All of, you know, the textile industry is operating at very low inventory levels. This, in a certain way, no matter what the you know positive oscillation in cotton prices leads to, you know, a rush in demand. Of course, this is the scenario for cotton. As for the planting in America, the fertilizer rally and because, you know, it's really nitrogen that's increasing in prices.
It's now twice as expensive as it was before. What is probably going to happen? They will probably reduce corn, cotton areas, and they will plant more soybeans. This is the logic that comes together with the high production cost for corn since nitrogen is so expensive and we'll probably see, you know, adjustments in the planted area. In the end, you know, whenever this happens between soybeans and corn in international markets, there are adjustments in supply and demand. I think that the really positive point is that we have low inventory levels in corn that are very low globally. Soybeans has high inventory levels above 27, 30.
Americans will be planting more soybeans, and this will lead to an imbalance, but there is a strong demand for soybeans for the production of bio energy. You know, there will be demand for corn and there won't be enough corn. The inventory levels globally in corn are already quite tight and you know, we see demand rising for both crops every year. Prices should be high enough to attract farmers. With high energy, we believe that this is going to be favorable for commodities instead of unfavorable as you might have imagined.
You know, of course, you know, it's going to be more expensive in terms of prices, but high energy prices are good for the SLC business, especially considering that there is an increase in polyester prices. China is an importer of soybeans, and it's going to continue importing. If it's going to come from the United States or Brazil, it doesn't make much of a difference. Of course, there is a bigger oscillation in Brazilian premiums. There will be some pressure on American premiums, but Americans will also be consuming more soybeans. That's why there's been a mandate to use more biofuels in the United States, especially now with high oil prices. We don't really expect that the soybean supply chain will be impacted by that.
What matters is supply and demand globally, not coming from China or, you know, from any other country. At any rate, China has Brazil as its main source of soybeans, and they manage what they buy from the United States. This is what we believe will be the case.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Isabella. Our next question is from Mr. Thiago Duarte, BTG Pactual. Please ask your question, sir.
Hello, good morning. André, Pavinato, and Ivo, it's a pleasure. Two quick questions. Well, with a focus on nitrogen, could you please remind us, Pavinato, what is the final deadline for the procurement of nitrogen, thinking of the 2026, 2027 crop and considering that the conflict will be longer, just like the Ukraine.
My second question, really now, speaking of SLC and how you judge the industry in Brazil. Well, you have said that Brazil has reduced the planted area for cotton as prices began dropping and, you know, we see that margins for cotton growers in Brazil are now becoming tighter because also of the exchange rate. Do you believe that the soybean area that's been growing year on year, every year in terms of planted area, do you think that we could expect in the next crop years a similar effect that we saw in cotton, or do you think it's going to be different? Do you think that the Brazilian supply can be maintained?
Well, nitrogen is used in cotton and corn. We start using nitrogen in December, so we plant for cotton earlier. Our deadline for buying is early September, and this is of course for part of the volume. Most of the volume is used in the second crop, second cotton crop and second corn crop. We're going to use it by February next year. We still have some months, and we can buy in installments as well. When we have enough time to buy nitrogen and you know, under the assumption that the war won't last for a very long time, but even if it does, like in the case of Ukraine, its effects won't be felt for very long. You know, probably there will be adjustments in nitrogen prices.
We actually bought at a lower price than nitrogen is being sold today, and even if it's a little more expensive, we could probably offset it with higher commodity prices. This will maintain our profitability. About the, you know, the history of costs and in the case of Brazil, the cost of soybeans, well, it has remained stable in the last three years at around BRL 100- BRL 120 per bag, you know, regardless of the prices in Chicago. Prices have been flat for three years, and costs have gone up. When you look at the 2025/2026 crop, fertilizers were more expensive than in the preceding year. You know, and these costs are higher, and this creates pressure on margins. Corn is starting to offer benefits to farmers and can sustain cash flow for farmers.
It's a bit surprising how farmers continue to expand planted area even in a scenario of tight margins. One of the explanations is the cash generation provided by corn. If you fly over the Brazilian Midwest, you see more area, more areas being planted. Soybeans for the next crop year, I don't believe they're going to be reduced. They will be the same or they will be expanded. Some marginal areas will be abandoned, but other new areas will be planted. Brazil has been a very resilient supplier in soybeans. Maybe you know, this slight growth is not enough for you know, considering the global demand that's growing so much. If we don't plant more for three years, of course you know, there will be you know, some crunching of the supply.
Along the way, probably we saw some droughts as well. This could cause a disruption in supply. As for expansion of area, this is necessary. If the expansion is too small, then we'll see a deficit in the surplus, and this will, of course, result in better prices.
Thank you very much, Pavinato.
Thank you, Thiago. Our next question is from Mr. Victor, UBS. Please ask your question, sir.
Good morning, Pavinato, Ivo, and André. Thank you very much for taking my question. My first question, going back to fertilizer prices, could you share with us what's the expected cost per hectare in 2026/ 2027, considering what we have seen so far in terms of input prices? My second question is about capital allocation. With a net debt over EBITDA closing the year below 2x, I would like to understand if the priority for 2026 is to continue deleveraging or there could be more distribution to shareholders, other expansion projects. Are those possibilities with this level of leverage?
I'll leave it up to Ivo to answer this one.
Victor, about fertilizer prices and costs for the future crop. You know, we have already procured 100% of fertilizers. There's no more impact. We already announced 9% increase in relation to the previous year. As Pavinato said, this is the moment for buying. We have an expectation of maintaining prices. You know, the current status quo basically. Because foreign exchange, you know, the U.S. dollar is going down on prices.
Sorry, we had another cut, so we need to wait a little bit more. We have up to September to buy part of our urea. About the other point. Sorry. Yes, about leveraging. Leverage and deleveraging. We're expanding 100,000 hectares. There are new areas being incorporated, new people joining our team. I have to say that we want to reduce leverage. This is the plan. If there are opportunities for growing, we're going to judge them always with an eye on our leverage levels.
Thank you. Very clear.
Just in addition to what he said, phosphorus usually takes 50% of our fertilizer package, and we've already purchased for the next crop year, and we bought at a lower price than in the current crop. This is basically the numbers in a nutshell.
Thank you.
Thank you, Victor. Our next question is from Mr. Gustavo Troyano, Banco Itaú. Mr. Troyano, you can activate your camera and microphone and ask your question.
Good morning, Pavinato, Ivo, and André. Thank you. The first point I would like to explore with you, yesterday there was a lot of talk in the market about a big player suspending its exports to China. Do you think this is a one-off situation or are there other players taking this stance? We saw also the expansion of some planted areas for some other crops, and I would like just to understand whether this change in mix was because of the planting window or if you expanded some of the planted areas because of margins or thinking more of the long term. Also looking at eucalyptus. This is my question.
Thank you very much, Gustavo, for your questions. It's just like I said before, if China doesn't buy from one country, it's gonna buy from another one, right? This is the market dynamic. If a country won't export to China, it will export to others. Especially in relation to soybeans, the effect over commodity prices is really not huge. About the crops, we had an initial plan. This year there was a delay. It started raining later in some areas of Maranhão, so we weren't able to plant soybeans early enough to have a second crop. In this case we did a cotton first crop. That's why we had to reduce the cotton area slightly. Those are decisions that we take on the run.
I mean, you know, this farm on February 5 or February 10 we plant cotton or corn. We consider the contribution margin in that specific farm and then we make a decision to plant one crop or the other one. This is a, you know, this is really a fine-tuning that we do based on the contribution margin of each farm.
Thank you very much, Pavinato.
Thank you, Gustavo. Our next question is from Pedro Fonseca, XP. Please go ahead, sir.
Oh, no, it was me, Pedro Fonseca, who asked the last question. I think there was a change in order.
My apologies, Pedro. I called you Gustavo, yes.
My apologies. I got the prompt to activate my microphone.
So Gustavo, could you please ask your question, Gustavo from Itaú? Okay. So Larissa Pérez, J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good morning. Can you hear me? Thank you very much. I have two quick questions. Firstly, about climate. El Niño, we see that there is a probability that's going to increase by the second term. So how does productivity behave in situations like this? And a follow-up to Pedro's question, we've been talking about the growth of ethanol corn in Brazil. Can SLC benefit from this growth? Could you please remind us how much of your corn goes into ethanol making? And would you perhaps invest in a corn mill, for example?
Well, El Niño leads to too much rain in the south of Brazil and less rain in the north and center of Brazil, so it has a negative impact on water supply, especially in the northeast of Brazil. Today, the system is more mature. We have more irrigation in the state of Bahia, which was the hardest hit region in El Niño years.
We're more resilient now than before. In the Midwest, in El Niño year, sometimes there is no effect in rainfall. The forecast for the next crop year is of a weak El Niño because, you know, water needs to be hotter by half degree, right? Than it is now. You know, a really strong El Niño is correlated with an increase of two degrees in temperature in the Pacific. This is the current scenario, the current forecast for the next crop year. Now, as for corn ethanol, we supply a large volume. Over half of our production is driven to ethanol production.
The ethanol market is a constant market. They buy futures. We like to sell futures, so we sell a lot of corn for ethanol. We are located in the areas where those mills are located, in the state of Maranhão, for example. Today we are a major supplier of corn ethanol, and this helps us with prices and also in specification. The demand in ethanol is definitely pushing the corn market in Brazil and making corn a more predictable crop, and also with better pricing and more predictability.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Larissa. Our last question now, Julia Rizzo from Morgan Stanley, you may ask your question.
Hello. Thank you very much. I would like to do a little bit of follow-up because there was some cuts in the audio feed. I would like to ask about your expectations for the American crop, considering the current fertilizer situation. How much do you think the production cost for corn farmers will be? How much will it go up because of urea? Is there a risk of a breakage in supply of fertilizer? And how much this would affect the shift in area and, you know, consequences in price and also, demand for fertilizer, based on your experience? It's the current situation in fertilizer in America, the planted area for corn. And also, moving to the domestic market, I would like to know about the impact of diesel in the current crop because we see that because of the conflict, prices are going up, prices for diesel.
Do you view this? You know, how much does diesel represent in the costs of the current crop? Also, what about the domestic costs for Brazil? Okay. Can you hear me?
Could you please repeat your last question because there was, you know, it was also breaking up for us.
It was a question about diesel. How could it affect the current crop year in terms of costs, not only SLC Brazil, but at large? For Ivo , the CapEx that you expect for this year and the cash that's going to be employed in leases considering the change in mix and also other market conditions and considerations.
Well, we expect that in the United States there will be an increase in the soybeans planted area and a reduction in the corn planted area.
Now, the size of the adjustment will depend on what happens in the next few weeks. You know, fertilizer today, you know, the fertilizer package is now 50% more expensive than the historical average, consider the last 12 years in fertilizer prices. It's 50%, and this is being driven by nitrogen. Nitrogen is 100% more expensive. You know, the farmers will do their math and for sure they're gonna plant much more soybeans, 2 ,000,000 hectares more, and they will be reducing the corn planted area. Well, soon after the pandemic when fertilizer prices were also skyrocketing, the total world consumption of fertilizer was 10% for phosphorus, 15% less for potash, and 13% for nitrogen. Especially for phosphorus, potash, and nitrogen. Sorry, breaking up again. Yes. Was I breaking up again?
Yes. The demand for fertilizer is sensitive to high prices. When prices are very high, like nitrogen, today there's an adjustment in demand. Nitrogen is not quite as sensitive because it doesn't have a stock in the soil. You need to use it every year. With the other two, they are more sensitive to high prices. In the 2021 crisis, consumption in the following year went down by 10% in phosphorus and 15% potash globally. There was an adjustment in demand because of very high prices. This probably will happen if prices continue to go up again. In Brazil, diesel will suffer the consequences of international price increases. Prices in dollars is going up. You know, we know that the BRL is appreciating, which partially offsets this. This is an election year, there's political.
No, I'm thinking of right now because we've seen news that there is a shortage of diesel in some areas. No, we haven't felt this yet because of our, you know, in our operations we haven't seen any shortages of diesel yet, although this is in the news.
Yes, we have contracts with distributors, so we haven't felt this effect in our operations, Julia.
Okay. Thank you.
CapEx. Historically, we have been spending BRL 1 million for expansion. Half of this actually is maintenance. We are investing in irrigation, so I think that will probably be along that level. As for leases.
Sorry, Ivo, could you please repeat?
Because, you know, for leases we spent BRL 450 million approximately last year, and since we are expanding our planted area through leases, we'll probably reach BRL 500 million in the 2025/ 2026 crop year. Leases including, you know, machines, harvesters, et cetera.
Could you please remind me of how much diesel represents in our production costs?
Well, we use diesel, I would really need to look at the breakdown. Well, 3%-4% of our production cost, Julia. But our soybean harvest has almost ended, so we're still just waiting for corn and cotton. You're still planting, right? Yes. We're finishing corn, so we don't believe that there will be an impact of diesel costs at this period.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
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