Good afternoon, and welcome to our earnings release, second quarter of 2024. Among us, Felipe Marques, CFO, and Marino Colpo, CEO of the company. I'd like to let you know that all participants will be listening to this teleconference during the presentation. Right at the end, we'll start with a Q&A session. During the Q&A, we would like to ask you please, to submit your questions through our webcast platform. You'll be controlling the slide selection. Now, I'd like to pass the floor to Marino Colpo.
Good afternoon, good evening to all. It's a great pleasure to be here with you today. Your presence is essential to us, you investors. I would like to start on slide two. This is an overview of Boa Safra Sementes. To us, a company that is fast-growing in the agribusiness company. We would like to share with you some figures. We will be working with more than 70 cultivars of soya. For the first time, we are operating throughout the nation. We are focusing on high-value added seeds. We're also diversifying our portfolio to corn, forage, beans, sorghum, wheat. We also have been giving a great importance the expansion of distribution center. Please refer to slide five. We have one...
A lot of resonance on increased sales volume and in the two last semesters, quarters of 2023, there was a growth of 9% on the revenue and adjusted EBITDA of 42%. Now, I'd like to give you some highlights. This is with regards to the second quarter 2024. Let us go to slide three. I think in this case, the follow-on is the main highlight in April this year. The follow-on was focused on getting investments for the company. BRL 300 million have been captured. We announced the two new CDCs. As a matter of fact, we are ready to start off. We haven't started them officially. There's still some works to be finished so that we can go with them by the end of this year.
We have a very important 39 million sales of other seeds and those gross revenue, as a matter of fact, twice folded. Everything we sold last year, that is, all seeds sold last year, and all the seeds was in 2023, was about 20 million. Now, on the second quarter, now, right now we have twice as much as last year, the entire year. Despite of the fact that it's still a small part of our business, when we talk about all the seeds, we've been investing on our team, on portfolio, and on people. We are assembling a very capable passing portfolio and a very constant and present team for us to be able to diversify other seeds and that will be growing fast.
Now, with regards to net operating revenues and LT, second quarter is on the range of BRL 1.9 million, with the two new distribution centers in Mato Grosso and a new administrative office in Brasília. We have our capacity of 1,000 sq m cold rooms and 26,600 big bags. So we actually are reaching to 126,600 big bags. We also, as I said, have a new administrative office. With our office in Brasília, we also have the CapEx of BRL 140 million for this current year. Now, on slide number four, I'd like to just brush about the expansion of our company.
In 2019, you can see on the graph, right on the bottom of the slide, an idea of the evolution of our installed capacity, 55% a year. That represents really, that represents a very strong growth. We show a great potential for growth. Now, I'd like to highlight our IPO in 2021 with Bestway Seeds, the acquisition in 2022. I launched three years ago, and in 2023, with that social, and now in 2024, we just set up the follow-on. Now let us move to slide five. Please, pay attention to the orders of this great opportunity that we have. We at Votorantim see this opportunity as based on three major pillars, and of course, with a mergers and acquisitions. Now, the first pillar, it's increased sales. We have a great opportunity to keep growing.
Soja, we have only 8.5% in this market. Historically, we have both a 3%-4% year growth in volume and in invoicing. This market is pretty promising. It's a great chance of improving our market share. We're focusing on investing on the pillar number one, the increased sale. Now, the second pillar to our company is how to be able to add high value. We can constantly increase in cost. We've been investing in the treatment of the seeds. The seeds are treated with a product so that the grower receives a clean product. The third pillar is our ability of the revenue diversification. We are adding new options. Bestway, now we have corn, and then beans and forage, and this year, we are working more with wheat.
So we're growing fast with this diversification of our revenue. Those are still minor compared to the size or percentage of soy to our company. But we do believe that they will be very important in the future, and the fourth opportunity would be the M& A. So there are complete opportunities, and the positions, of course, are either in strategy one, or strategy two, or strategy three. We have no variety of M and A that is not backed to those first three strategies, so. Now, I would like to refer to slide six, and by now, I would like to invite Felipe Marques, our CFO, to give you some highlights and talk about our company's performance on the second quarter.
Thank you, Marino. It is a pleasure to be here with you. You can see on slide six, an idea of solid financial performance, just with regards to LTM. Now, of course, referring to the variation here, because the seasonal variation, of course, this is now when we are preparing. We're getting ready and getting our stock ready. When we, with our main asset, soya, we start getting ready. As Marino mentioned, the third quarter. 40 million as a lot of seeds, and it was a drop in revenue, basically because of the sale, as a matter of fact, because of the delays. That is, as a matter of fact, impact our reduced participation risks, which explains the drop of the revenue, because there was less materials sold. This is why we have EUR 88 million as a revenue, that revenue for this second quarter.
Now, for the gross profit, you can see at the LTM, you can still see the growth of approximately 17%, reaching BRL 305 million. Now, when you see the entire idea of the quarter, there was a reduction of 39%, of course, as I mentioned before, this is not a good revenue quarter, and of course, consequently, as a result. So as a matter of fact, we are just preparing for the second semester, simply put. Now, with regards to net debt, this is the worst moment of our net debt at the company. This is, historically speaking, this is when we put a lot of resources in the stock, and of course, we're anticipating sales, so those are backlog. Those will be still on the second semester, so.
As per the production area, there was a growth. We moved 144,000. This is basically for us to be able to meet our internal capacity. As a matter of fact, we have much more to do, and of course, this is a very correct decision... because there is a set of weather challenges, and of course, our installed capacity mitigates the impact of the climate issues that we had in 2024 crop. Slide seven shows you the diversification of revenues, our strategy. And of course, despite of the fact that we are a company that has no land, we have a lot of investments in our units. As a matter, we made sure to diversify and find the best use of our units with the diversification of different crops.
You can see that with this level of invoicing that we had second quarter, which is twice as much as the entire year, we can prove that growth is a reality in our portfolio. Just as my title said, you can see this growth so that we can make the best use of the assets of the company in the years to come. In slide eight, you can see that other seeds or other crops, rather, as I mentioned, BRL 40 million and this growth that we had with those other crops, we can have our line beans and forage that together correspond to almost BRL 30 million of our revenues. As a matter of fact, you can see, as I compared different soya, as is on the previous slide, we managed to optimize our UPS and our distribution centers to a maximum.
On slide nine, you can see that this is a typical image of our backlog. We always say that first and the second quarter is when we are reaping, when we are a great part of our work, and of course, the third quarter is promising. But then a lot is done in the first and the second quarter, and this is evident on our backlog. You can see more than BRL 40 million. We're talking about a late crop because of the growers, just based on their experience. Of course, because of the rain season. Rain can also is a very important player. Now, the second week or the second fortnight of September is probably the beginning of the planting season. So of course, our results will move along with the variation of the weather.
When we provide ideal storage conditions and provide good quality seed, there is sometimes a delay on our backlog, and it's very similar to what we witnessed in 2023, which is basically related to the decisions made by the grower and also the potential delays that you may have in the sowing season in Mato Grosso. A lot being done by our. But a very important aspect that I'd like to share with you is that our soya area for 2024 or 2025 crop. We're talking about the sales that will be for 2025. You can see that for that crop, there is a lot of concept in the market, with a growth of 2%-3% with regards to soya planted in. I'm talking about the planted areas.
Of course, we depend on the number of hectares that are going to be planted. Of course, other categories in input and the seeds, they're not because as a matter of fact, you're not exchanging for all those things. So you plant soya in the end. So it's a late decision. It's not because you're replacing the crop. This is not a typical, it is not common to replace the seed, the soya seed. We are going to really plant soya, so we're just filling that up, and we are giving you a more wide encompassing scenario about our backlog order and our invoicing and our revenue on the third quarter of 2024, giving you a wider idea as soon as they decide what to do. Now, of course, there are several events referred to previously.
There's the LTM BRL 246 million, and this quarter, you can see that we have BRL 1 million. So you can see our adjusted net profit that is smaller than the other revenues because we wanted to show you what it is compared. And our adjusted EBITDA show 58% growth, and BRL 222 million to BRL 256 million. Now, just BRL 7 million on the quarter. Of course, we expected because of investment, because of the M&A and also the move of our office. So there are new costs. There was M&A, so we invested in people. Thinking about the results they're reaping so and first, to get ready for the second semester of this year.
Of course, those represent a heavier part in terms of expenditures, but of course, the result will be concrete in the end of this year. We're gonna have a more, a better understanding of those expenditures, and of course, linked it to their new revenues that we are happy to have since we are so ready. Now, slide 11. You see our high levels of liquidity, so we have the cash and cash equivalents. And our consolidated Net Debt with this all along tab, so we can see that it's pretty fixed long-term debt. So we can see that we are in a very, in a very favorable situation. Then, of course, with the follow-on, as Marino said, business stores and others. So we are, of course, now on a very favorable position.
Even in such a difficult year, because of the liquidity industry, we have fantastic opportunities. We have also net debt of BRL 123 billion only. So this is the worst moment in terms of net debt of the company. So because most of our revenues are on the second semester, this is why we show you this reduction. But we're gonna be able to follow that up in the first, on the second, third, and the fourth quarters. Now, with regards to net debt and the adjusted EBITDA in LTM, you can see the results. And in slide 12, I'd like to invite Marino to come back to the microphone to talk about our growth and talking about the IPO process. There is the three years, previous three years, and with a new three-year cycle that starts now.
Thanks, Felipe. Back to you. Now, I'd like to show you the delivery in terms of IPO, our process. Between 2020 and 2023, you can see that the planted area in Brazil went from 36- 44, in hectares. Our installed capacity, twice for it. By technology, we moved from 62,000 Big Bags to 164, and TSI, five times. So we have increased in market share, also increase every year. The adjusted net profit, you can see that it will get also increased, and the adjusted net profit per Big Bag, almost twice for this. What do we want to do in the next cycle? We want to have the same similar results.
This is why we have our hub one in 2024, and we have a very good plans to, a very strong growth for the next three years, starting our investments, you know, with possibilities of M&A. And all of you, know that how successful, our history has been. So we're thinking about three years of that, will be marked by a very strong growth until 2026.
Thank you very much, Marino. Now, we'd like to ask you please to participate on our Q&A session. Please submit your questions through our webcast platform, and hold until we assemble all the questions. Thank you. First question, Marcelo from Locus. According to the company, is it possible to state that 2021 - 2022, 2023 were exceptional in terms of profitability and price versus higher? In 2024, would that be considered a more normal levels in terms of price and profitability?
Thank you very much, Marcelo, for this question. What I could anticipate to you is that in 2021 and 2022, those were actually exceptional years to the sector. The price of the commodity was high, highly valued. There was an increase in the price of input of war. We had the pandemic, so there were several variables that affected the trade chain. So everything went up strongly, but there was, of course, the stocks were depleted. We don't, we didn't have much stock. Now, last year, things changed. 2023 was different. In the world, everybody was reorganizing. There was an increase in production. You can see that the areas planted, we went in Brazil from 36- 44 yard hectares.
So there was a growth in area, and of course, the stocks of corn and other commodities throughout the world, having replenished, well, consequently, in price. Of course, this is the beginning of the new cycle. If you analyze the history of soya, soya, and other commodities, some years are high up, and then the graph goes down. So apparently, this is the bottom of our- However, last year, we had a year marked by a shrinking. It was much stronger than the previous year. So we had BRL 160, and it went down to BRL 110 in the price of soya. So it was a 30% reduction. But this didn't happen. We started with 10, and it touched down on BRL 100, and now is back to BRL 110.
So the price for the commodity seems to be stabilized. 2023 was, yes, a challenging year, but let me tell you, soya seeds, in my opinion, this is the most resilient input. What happens? The grower can decrease the use of fertilizers. They can plant with less fertilizers. They can have—They decrease the dusting. So 4- 3. So they, there was a decrease in the use of biological, but impossible, in my opinion, to plant and each seed. And we can see the demand of high quality. There was a lot of things that were left behind, so they gave up on the use of input or either chemical input or biological input, but the seeds, no, that didn't change.
They want high-quality seeds, and if you look around, you see that the sale price of the soybean seed is the most resilient of them all. So all the inputs shrink a lot compared comparing last year to this year, but the soybean seeds remain put if you analyze the history. So the seeds are the last thing to suffer this variation. Now, I think that we are not as a matter of fact in the golden years right now, no. But still, I think that our sector is perhaps the sector that has accounts for more most technology and most capability to face the difficulties of this difficult times for either soybean and other commodities.
Thank you very much, Marino. Now, the second question comes fro m us, Mayir. Historically, the orders are always placed the end of this order because of the typical history. Should we expect a more relevant figure, as of the beginning of the third quarter? Felipe, the question is to you.
Thank you so much for your question. When you see the history of our company, if you see, our orders last year, and then, of, BRL 1 billion and BRL 1.6 billion, it results in revenue. Of course, there is a lot that is ordered in the second semester, just checking what happened last year. So yes, we almost expect to have a lot of orders and growers really making decisions on the spur of the moment because of the liquidity, because of this latest news. They are just waiting to see what happens. So of course, considering the rain, tragedy and the delay in the wet season, and of course, there will be growth in the planted areas.
But everything shows, everything, makes us believe that we will be planting more, and of course, there, there is no replacement for our soybean seeds. So well, in the end, we're gonna be giving you details and advances on what is happening. But you can see that the margins will be reaching lower levels if compared to 2024. But 2025, it gives us hints of better margins... for growers, because we expect to have an increase in the yield and the reduction of the costs. And you can see that growers are recovering the levels of profitability. That is shown in the cost of prices and the yield expected, and with the prices that are already there. So you can see what you have in the market, so there is already 15% of the next year crop already paid by the group.
Thank you very much, Felipe. Now, the third question comes from Victor Blass of Genoa Capital. He says, "Congratulations for the business." He wants to know a little bit of the results of Bestway, Masp.
Victor, we are positive with the results of Bestway. We've been talking about the increase of this alliance, suppliers. We started a new activity this year. It's called as Q, the manufacturer production use. We had seeds services. Now we start with you. So this is quite well. As a matter of fact, we started in the years now with Bestway. That was just a test with almost 500 hectares, and that was extraordinary. And corn, everything is working very well.
Now, for corn. See, there are more seeds on offer compared to previous years. Today, while the market has quite a lot of seeds. Many people didn't do the second crop. It was a decrease in the area planted for the second crop, for the second crop. So there is a more difficult position when you talk about corn on the first and second quarter. However, because of the corn price and because of a more, the weather that is expected to be more normal, we expect to have more demand for corn on the following quarters. So we are very positive in the end with our corn business.
Thank you, Marino. Now, there is another question. The question comes from Pedro Gama, from Citibank. Three questions. Considering the area for soya, the growers will probably have more or better margins in 2045. What do you expect to be the sale mix with the seeds? And of course, the sale time or the selling time, more close to the planting time, would that be something to affect the prices?
Question. As mentioned before, we have. We are expecting better margins, at least for the 2024, and also because of the production cost. Now, we're talking about the ESI mix. We do think that it is going to be a repeat of what we had last year. Last year, there was also decisions from the growers. They decided in the last minute, and even when we have this delay in the decision making, and with the new two distribution centers, that we're going to be ready just the coming year. But then we anticipated that there is a lot of cap capillarity.
We managed to increase our, the treatment of our seeds. So basically, Boa Safra has, is prepared. Even if there are last-minute decisions, we are well-positioned, mainly because of our distribution centers, and we are well prepared to be able to treat the seed, even if the orders come in the last minute. Now, of course, we've got to be learning about that just in the future. But then, rest assured, the company is very much ready to adjust to this increase of complexity. We have embarked on a good infrastructure, never heard before, in terms of capacity, to be able to meet all the demands, of TSI in the last year. And of course, there is a trend because of the degrees and the margin, and we, we had this question mark: Would that really cause us to have large demand for TSI? No.
95% of the seeds planted in Brazil are untreated. So every time they start with the industrial treatment of the seeds, you can see that there's no way back, and this is a natural trend. Boa Safra is ready to meet all our clients' needs.
Now, continue with the questions. There was two more questions. With regards to M&A, could you be able to share what the target is and ROI? Is there any possibility of closing a deal with less expected results? So we have BRL 140 million. So BRL 90 million is already executed for the distribution centers. How can we expect to the next shares to settled, to be settled?
Let us see with the first part of your question. We have a return of 25%. This is our target. Everything that is invested in all the distribution centers, our focus is on for payback. For acquisitions, we understand the return might not be as expected. But of course, we have some matters, assets on the market, structure. So there are all the variables that have different weights, but we understand it.
The target should be about 20%. M&A with even higher return, I was able to close to we, we close five-year payback. It's actually grounding our fast return because we're talking about acquisitions, and acquisitions also show have risks. We're talking about paybacks, BRL 140 million. Yes, we have quantity, and you see the distribution centers. What we should do extra is to build more distribution centers and increase or the capacity of our plants. Actually, this is our focus. When we think about growing, this is what we have approved so far.
Thanks. Now, the question comes from Eric from Bradesco BBI. But we are still receivable. Could you kindly provide more details with regards to the BRL 25 billion receivables between 91 and 37 days? Those are distributed throughout into how? Now, in regards to anticipations, is there any advances regards to input compared to previous year? I understand you're talking about royalty payments. There is a third question in addition to the volume. Can you please talk about the factors that are behind this? So with regards to the advances, and were they more difficult compared to 2023? Is there any relevant effect with the use of biotechnology?
Thanks, Eric. Thank you very much for your questions. Our receivable, as a matter of fact, we are a very conservative company. BRL 7 million, three days. That is a very conservative approach, and that we might get some surprises as the recovery begins. So we assume that our portfolio is already considered the balance. Now, you're talking about the delays. Some delays are actually the ones that concern us. This is about BRL 7 million that were part of our concern, so that is fast. I'm sure that we are going to be able to prove their recovery. And of course, that was something that really was very small compared to the size of our portfolio, and we are going to be able to show the recovery. And of course, our credit is very rigorous here in this company.
Now, for the second question, regards to the supplier, you can see that our name, it matters. We anticipated some values, purchases, royalty. So this is the most part of this aspect, so we believe, and we trust that we are going to form the sales in the second semester. Actually, there is liquidity. We see how we can capture more and capture more value, and with those anticipations, we do that across the general guideline in the company. This is why there was this part was kind of increased. Now, the third part of the question, there are several things. Yes, there it's true. Less money available because all the delays of the sale of the crop and the seeds, and of course, that affects the entire chain, entire industry.
There is, yes, a very difficult moment in terms of profitability to the grower. The combination of price, yield, productivity, cost, but that shows us that there will be an increase in conditions for the coming year, and we, as we proved to you, we are able to be ready for those market fluctuations and vary as far as to make the best of the decisions for the company. So we can capture more value with no hurries or no immediate uncertain decisions. So we show our liquidity, and this is something that inspires us to be a solid company with regards to the mix of biotechnology. Yes, it is growing. The new biotechnology is growing.
We didn't share just because those are strategic, pieces of information, but there is an increase in the use of new biotechnology, so we're gonna be able to disclose more details in this coming quarter or by the end of the year for you to learn about how this is evolving. Thank you.
Finally, thank you. Two questions from Pedro Fonseca. Sales are late because of the... You can see that so they're not buying inputs, but there is still time. The last some regions already counting, as of September. When should we start getting worried, in time, in what part of the year? So what is the expectation of the company in terms of increase in the volume? And we know that the, when the seed, this is by the time of sending the seeds to the growers. So what is the minimum expected?
We're talking about a top and a premium crop. So the company has shown good revenues in the second quarter 2024. That was due to drive by lowering, because there was less seeds sold in this past semester. Now, the first question, the first part of the question, we're actually talking about the grower. The grower is late in terms of buying input. We still believe that there is time. There is still time. We cannot make any statement at this point in time. We're talking about just Mato Grosso. Mato Grosso is where they start planting in September. If you analyze where Minas Gerais, São Paulo, dates in October, November. Bahia, Piauí, they start in November. Pará, they start planting even later, in December, December. So there is plenty of time.
We trust our teams and possibility of closing more sales, bringing customers to the company. Now, with regards to the volume of PSC, TSI, sorry, treated seeds. Yes, we believe working on that. We have a goal. Treated seeds, year after year. I won't give you much information about the amount of seeds on the second quarter. We cannot say much about it at this point in time, but with regards to our revenue, yes, there is a volume of seeds. There was seeds discharge. There was also some delays, but there are still some seeds to be sold the quarter. But the first and the second quarter are not relevant to our business at this point in time. They are going to be relevant when we increase in our mix with other crops.
There are still small in terms of proportion when we talk about soy. And I have a good margin, only as happens historically on the third and the fourth quarter. So we're gonna have a repeat of everything. So these are cycles. We're talking about this constant or this permanent fluctuation every year.
Thank you, Pedro. Bruno says, "Good afternoon, and thank you very much for your presentation. Can you talk about the backlog turned out the order? How the orders compare to the other months of the quarter? Can you also talk about the net. What about receivables? There was some provisions that increased because of the increased receivables. How can you sense the appetite of the grower to renegotiate debts according to the evolution of the more planting time? What is your input about it?
Thank you, Bruno, for your question. We always say that, this variation is a reality to us. Perhaps we will be talking about this, variations where every year shows you a different, dynamic. Now, we don't look only at seeds. We understand that the grower is late for a series of reasons. The grower, aside from the last minute, it's easy to see the level of commercialization. If they don't sell their crop, they don't receive money to be able to buy input for the coming crops. So there is less money in the chain. So selling their crop is low. Why? Because they're still selling their second crop, and if you talk about the coming year, just 15%.
So this is according to the market studies, and of course, the grower says, "Oh, my God, what is going to happen?" So they get stiff. They sell their crop because they're gonna be buying the input. So because of that, we can, you know, because of our analysis of the market and things that we unless we really see that there is a late decision from the grower's point of view, but this is not. Now, we are not saying that they are not going to plant. We're gonna be following up this evolution. Of course, as we said, Boa Safra's goal, set. This is a difficult year. There is less seed in the market, so yes, it is a difficult year. There was less seed produced compared to the entire year.
We can see this in the results, but we still have the capacity, we still have a growing demand because there is an increase in the area planted in Brazil. This is why we are still very calm about it. So there are many growers that are still going to slide, and we have a good position because of our good logistics, because of a good quality in our product. You can see that, our units, we only deliver high-quality seeds to our growers, our clients. So we are well-positioned because of the volume that we produced this year. We are quite, good in terms of really making sure that there will be demand for our product, despite of all the risks that, exist out there.
Moving on to the portfolio, let me tell you, so everything we received is April, May, so there is a drop in the figures. You can see our cash flow. Everything goes to as cash. We had a change, we had to move, and we have other crops in our portfolio. They're new dates, no longer in April and May, which is the soya. This is why we still have receivable, a receivable in the middle of the year, and it is not typical if you look our history, because we were talking about just the sale for traders. So now we have all the seeds, so we are finalizing what we had in QTD. This is what we had in the end of the year. So most of our receivables is the sales of our soya seeds, and this is why you see those figures.
Thanks, Felipe. Now, Ramon Ramos, from Santander, for the challenges and opportunities for the next three years in this sector. What about the curve of market rates for the entire sector?
Now, talking about challenges, I know that the major challenge, or at least a big challenge that we're gonna have is that there's gonna be a lower price in terms of commodities. This is a challenge. But then still, Boa Safra is very strong. We are in a sector with a lot of technology. Historically, this is what it is less affected, historically speaking. Perhaps we are the company that is least commodity-oriented in the sector. This sector is very cyclical.
Opportunities exist, and they are many. I could talk about market share consolidation. There is a growth. We have been investing in high-quality seeds. We invest more than our competition. I, I have no knowledge how any other would do as much as we do in terms of investment and our shares. According to biotechnology information, almost 80% of our growth in volume, year after year, was with Monsanto. So mostly, we need a lot of market share. Check the U.S., it's an older and more mature market, but then in Brazil, we are much more consolidated. They are 38%—they have 38% market share, we have 88%. So but that is still a sector that is growing so much. We need to feed the world, and there will be more need for that.
The planted area is increasing, despite of the price, it will increase this year and the next year, and high-tech seeds will be present. Of course, if the price is high, it's easier and it is faster to sell. The grower is more willing to make investments in technology, more investments. But it's we, despite of the fact that there is this low situation in the curve, it's low, you can see that the area is growing. Even with the slow price of soy, just like last year, compared 2022, 2023, we sold so much more TSI treated seed in 2023 than 2022. We are selling technology. We are selling biotechnology as well. Talking about interest rates and the curve of interest rates, it's so hard to any faster.
We always have high interest rates, and this is an endless spinning wheel of expenditures from the government, and that really worries us as executives and as investors. We can't worry, yes, but what much do we have to do? Or just watch what it is happening to our economy. Yes, but think about half full glass. Of course, we didn't want to have this situation. We would love to have less interest rates, and we would like to be growing much more in Brazil, but there's still a good opportunity. Why? Because Monsanto is a company, we know that. So a little dap, and we always close our cycle with a positive condition. So much of the agribusiness have much more dap than us.
Of course, when you have a little dap, and you have in the moment of high interest rates, you still have opportunity to grow, so it's more profitable. Much more opportunities to invest if you compare to our competition, as we have a different situation. Yes, this does have full glass. It's not exactly what we would like to, a company in a situation of high interest rates, but we are capitalized. There is still a good set of opportunities to us.
Thank you very much, Marino. Now, there is another question from Guilherme Santander. What about the I2X in our agro order? You can see that there was a deflation in terms of defensives. How can this be linked to the price margins of the treated seeds?
It is a fact. We see two things that matter there. Of the new biotechnology, yes, this is growing as fast as the last few years. But this year, particularly, we have material is the biotechnology, and they're selling like a brand. There's a huge that is growing. Well, this year, more than 200%, but the biotechnology will be important. There is a lot that is already out of stock. So basically, people are looking for it, and there's not. It will be very small in 2025. We are already hiring people and, in a few, and that is growing fast. Bayer and Corteva technologies are growing with regards to treated seed. So it's true, the chemical prices dropped, all defensives prices are going down, and biological also going down in price. TSI, yeah, cheaper now and more affordable. It's a great technology.
The protection margin doesn't change in percentage, though. It is just a relative, information compared to PSI, but the margin, remains the same.
Thank you, Marie. There is a question from Paulo, from Wire Capital. What are the main drivers for average ticket size increase? That is going to five. What do you expect to, obtain with the new distribution centers in Mato Grosso? Now, the second part of the question, for the retail, what about the, bad debt of the company, and how do you mitigate bad debt in the company if you have?
Now, let me talk about, this, first part of your question, then I'll let Felipe talk about the bad debt. Now, the average, ticket increase, what happens? Well, software, sales, technology. There are several technologies that are in a pack.
We sell the seed, part of it is the quantity, yes. If you look at the seed, historically, the price has been going down. Last year, not much, last year to this year, but 5%. But we sell more than a seed. We sell the seed with the biotechnology on it. That is coated. This treatment is from very basic, just a fungicide or insecticide, a chemical product, to a more niche, with cobalt, with molybdenum, and dry powder, and also biological products to fight off nematodes. What is our main focus? To increase our average, average ticket. We want to sell more biotechnology. So we want to sell more products package. So Intacta, not only Intacta, Intacta 2 X, and also to sell more product. With this biotechnology, ProCultiva, which is Nift.
So when we increase the penetration of those new biotechnologies, so we increase the average ticket. Why? Because we're delivering more. So the pricing power is higher. Second part, which is to increase our average ticket, is actually on the hands of our distribution center. We want to treat all the seeds. All distribution centers are able and are ready to coat, to coat all the seeds with all those products. So when they are near the growers, they're near their fields, so we invest, we make this investment. We want to increase the premium products. Those are the drivers. So we want to coat the seeds with as much product or as many products as possible, as much technology as possible, to give more, to deliver more biotechnology to the grower with the best genetic, with the best technology.
So those are the two, average ticket drivers to increase the average ticket, so to offset the drop in the price of the commodity. So with these two drivers, this is what we did in 2023, with the drop in the commodity price between 2022 and 2023, and this is what we expect to repeat this once again, this cycle.
Now, with regards to the Mato Grosso, distribution centers, I think this is self-explanatory. In Mato Grosso, first, we want to sell, of course, more treatment. We want to sell more technology, but we also want to sell more quality. When the seed is just next door to the grower, it's much easier to deliver and logistics is easy. The growers don't have to move far away from their own region, looking for seeds in another state, like Bahia, Mato Grosso, Goiás.
Actually, there historically good areas for seed production, so that's why they used to go there. Say that the seed is stored, that will take 3-4 days on a truck to be hauled back from the distribution center to the grower. So when we move seed and are here, and we store in the cold chamber, keep good quality, so we are able to sell higher quality to the grower. We offer the treatment at the time, including the seed, all to the truck, a week before they are ready to. So with this biotechnology, with the modern products, the shelf life is much more. Actually, we have to treat before we deliver. So in order to like add a treatment to the seed or a bacteria or a biotechnology and store it 60 days.
So the strategy is to treat the seed or small product that we have available today, and deliver to the grower that is going to put that on the soil one or two days later, or maybe in the following week. The shelf life of those more technological products is not too low. That's why we need to have a distribution center right there to be able to provide the services. Now, about the sales and about the bad debt, as you said, I think we are quite well in terms of the issue that bad debt. It's a very low bad debt percentage. It's basically or near that. It will be much less than that was expected as an average to the sector.
Perhaps to say a word or two about this, maybe about what we expect to have by this situation that we have this year, considering our portfolio. You know, as we've said before, that is already anticipated our balance. We were very, very conservative. I think as we roll out our guarantees, we are going to be able to recover part of those values. This is the situation. In terms of profitability to the grower, that was the worst that we possibly have lived. We can now anticipate a recovery of the margins compared to the years ago, whatever, recovery in terms of the yield and the productivity. So everything leads us to believe that they'll be. They're going back to their li- good liquidity. So the most restriction in terms of liquidity was this past, and that is already shown on our balance that we shared with you.
Thank you, Felipe. Having said that, I would like to thank you all for all questions submitted. Since we received many questions and some were not answered, please submit it to us via email so that we can follow up with them. I would like to pass the floor to Marino for the final comment.
I'd like to thank you all participants, and all investors, and all who are giving us some positive vote of confidence. And make sure that we'll be focusing on the growth and the development, and of course, working on the opportunities that the agribusiness offers to all of us, principally in terms of the sale of seeds and technology in the agro sector. Thank you very much to all, and good afternoon. Thank you very much, and our second quarter 2024 teleconference of Boa Safra is now ended.