Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to SLC Agrícola's third quarter 2019 earnings conference call. Today we have with us Mr. Aurélio Pavinato, CEO, and Mr. Ivo Marcon Brum, CFO and Investor Relations Officer. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded, and all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the company's presentation. After the company's remarks are completed, there will be a question-and-answer session. At that time, further instructions will be given. Should any participant need assistance during this call, please press star zero to reach the operator. Also, today's live webcast, both audio and slideshow, may be accessed through SLC Agrícola's website at www.slcagricola.com.br in the Investor Relations section by clicking on the banner Webcast 3Q 2019.
The following presentation is also available to download on the webcast platform. The following information is available in thousands of Brazilian Real and in IFRS, except when otherwise indicated. Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are based on beliefs and assumptions of SLC Agrícola management and on information currently available to the company. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could also affect the future results of the company and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, I will turn the conference over to Mr. Aurélio Pavinato, CEO. You may proceed.
Good morning. Thank you for participating in SLC Agrícola's earnings conference call for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019. Let's turn to slide three, please. In line with our current strategy of monetizing real estate gains, this month we concluded the sales of 5,205 hectares, of which 4,162 hectares were arable for BRL 83.2 million in cash or BRL 20,000 per arable hectare. The property is part of the Parnaíba farm in Maranhão state. According to our calculations, the transaction generates an internal ratio of return in US dollars of 14.1%. The company continues to operate on the area sold with leasing payments at market prices. On slide four, you can see the updated value of our land portfolio, which already reflects the results of the 2019 property appraisal conducted by Deloitte.
The appraisal determined a total value of BRL 3.86 billion, which represents appreciation of 3.4% on 2018 for a net gain of BRL 183.5 million. Let's turn to slide six, where we will comment on the pricing scenario for our main products. Cotton prices have improved over the past few weeks, which we attribute to recent developments in the U.S.-China trade war, which have strengthened demand for the fiber and to the recent revisions to forecast for the U.S. cotton crop, which is in the harvest phase. Let's go now to slide seven. For grains, international price results have improved in recent months, basically due to the confirmation of shortfalls in U.S. output. The supply-demand balance for soybean and corn is pointed to a deficit in the 2019/2020 crop year. Let's go now to slide nine, where we will comment on our operating performance in the 2018/2019 crop year.
With the harvest of all crops already concluded, the final soybean yield was 3,725 kg per hectare, a new record, and 5.7% above the initial projection and 0.8% higher than the last crop year. The result also is 16% above the national average for the 2018/2019 crop year based on data from CONAB. In the case of cotton, due to the rains in April and May, we mentioned last quarter, after concluding the harvest, we adjust the estimated yield and with 75% of processing already concluded, the current projection for the cotton yield considering the average of the first and second crops is 1,656 kg per hectare, down 2.4% from the initial budget. For corn, the yield was 7,021 kg per hectare, 22.8% higher than last crop year, 3% higher than the initial budget, and 27.4% above the national average according to CONAB figures for the second crop.
I will now pass the call over to my colleague Ivo Brum, our CFO and IRO, who will comment on our financial results in the period.
Good morning, everyone. Let's go to slide 11, which shows some highlights from our income statement for the period. Given the characteristic of our business and also the current accounting methodology, the results of one quarter often don't reflect the real situation of the crop year as a whole. We always emphasize that looking at the full year or periods of nine months, six months is usually much more accurate. Net revenue in the year to date grew by 32%, reflecting the higher volumes invoiced and higher price for our key crops, especially soybean and corn.
Adjusted EBITDA were BRL 490 million with a margin of 28%, which represents growth of 33% over the same nine-month period of 2018, reflecting the higher volumes and margin expansion in all crops. Net income in the period was BRL 226 million, with a margin of 13%, with the results impacted by calculation of fair value of biological assets. Here, I should note that cotton price fell over the third quarter, which leads to a revision of the calculation of fair value of biological assets. However, in the same weeks, cotton price have recovered, supporting strong growth in the position for sale in 2020, as reflected by our hedge position, which means that the margin that effectively will be realized by the company when the cotton is invoiced will be higher than that implicit in the calculation of the fair value of biological assets.
Turning to slide 12, you can see our summarized statement of the cash flow. Given the generation of the cash flow operation and the lower working capital needs as we anticipate less margin, the third quarter of this year is already cash flow positive at BRL 217 million. Given that the highest volume of cotton is invoiced in the fourth quarter, we project positive free cash flow for the remainder of the year. Let's turn to slide 13, please. Reflecting our positive free cash flow, net debt fell in relation to second quarter, and given our EBITDA in the last 12 months, our net debt EBITDA ratio now stands at 1.8x . I will now pass the call back over to Pavinato, with comments on the outlook for the next quarter.
Thank you, Ivo. Let's turn to slide 15, please. In this release, we present our initial planting intentions and projections for yield and production costs for the new season, which is currently in the planting phase. We are estimating a total planted area of 450,000 hectares. The potential is higher, but considering the delay in the onset of the rains in the state of Maranhão, we reduced the corn area by 8,000 hectares as a second crop. For yields, which you can see on slide 16, compared to the yields budget for the 2018/2019 crop year, we estimate increases of 6.4% for cotton considering the average of first or second crops, of 2.3% for soybean, and of 6.0% for second crop corn. The weather outlook for the coming season calls for normal conditions.
According to NOAA's November 4th report, the most probable scenario is of a weak El Niño, which generally favors crop development in Brazil. On slide 17, you can see a summary of our estimate for production cost per hectare, which is a 5.8% increase in relation to 2018/2019 crop year, mainly due to the depreciation in the Brazilian real against the dollar over the course of 2019. Lastly, for our sales prices in the crop year, you can see our updated hedge position on slide 18. Taking advantage of the recovery in cotton price in recent weeks, we advanced in our sales for 2020, and currently, 83% of our crop to be invoiced next year has been already sold.
Given this combination of factors, namely, planted area, yields, costs, and prices, our expectation for the 2019/2020 crop year are positive, and we project continued good profitability for the new crop year that is starting. Thank you. Now we are able for [altered] questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now initiate the question- and- answer section. If you would like to ask a question, please dial star one. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove your question from the queue by pressing star two. Thank you. This does concludes today's presentation. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a nice day.