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Every year, Brazilian fiber breaks new records and expands its presence around the world. Asian countries are the biggest buyers of our cotton. The growth of Brazilian production and exports continues exponentially and, in parallel, is the trajectory of SLC Agrícola – one of the world's largest producers of grains and fibers. The company has 22 farms, in seven states, 20 of which grow plume, and has been one of the protagonists in the rise of the Brazilian market around the world. In 2020, it sold 209 thousand tons of cotton.
SLC Agrícola's relationship with the cotton production process began in 1998 with the first planting at Fazenda Planalto, in Costa Rica (MS), in an area of approximately 300 hectares, with production of around 500 tons. The objective was to serve the domestic market. The company invested in fiber production and became recognized for the high quality of its production, as it has a strict protocol from agricultural planning to harvesting, processing, transportation, certification, classification until delivery to the customer, respecting environmental preservation and sustainability.
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The first exports took place through trading companies. After a few years on the market and seeing the export of its production grow, SLC Agrícola decided to start a project to directly sell its cotton to some countries. To achieve this, planning and immersion in the international market were carried out. China and Indonesia, recognized for being major importers of the commodity and with an industry that seeks the best, were the target countries for the direct sale of SLC Agrícola's plume. The agreements were signed with the main highlights highlighted by the buyers: the quality of the fiber supplied by the company and the high quality of the services provided by the company, applying standardized batches in a customized way, according to the demand of each client.
Since then, sales have only grown, both in Brazil and from SLC Agrícola to the world. In the 2015/16 harvest, Brazil exported around 603 thousand tons, of which approximately 101 thousand tons were cotton from SLC Agrícola. In the 2019/20 season, the country sold 2.4 million tons abroad and the company 218 thousand tons, with a growth of 7.41 TP3T, in relation to the 2018/19 harvest, when it sold 203 thousand tons of your cotton. The expectation is an evolution every year.
The numbers show the exponential growth of Brazilian cotton, and this leading role is due to the product's widely recognized quality. Among the quality certificates of Brazilian cotton and SLC Agrícola are the SAI label (Abrapa identification system – Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers), the Responsible Brazilian Cotton Program (ABR) and the international certification of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) .
Currently, around 99% of SLC Agrícola's production is for export, part of which goes to industries in Asia that are looking for a noble fiber, in addition to the specific characteristics that each one requests and the company is able to meet. The company sells its production up to two years before harvesting the fiber and the customer buys with the certainty that they will receive the best quality product, a reference already achieved by SLC worldwide.
Brazil continues its trajectory among the largest cotton producers in the world and in a few years it should reach the position of largest producer and exporter and, together with this leading role will be SLC Agrícola, which has a great objective: to deliver the best quality cotton to the your customers. And, to this end, it cares about every detail of each fiber production process.
article sent by Filipe Mamede is an agronomist and Sales Manager at SLC Agrícola
Source: Agrolink
