Agrion plans to build 10 new fertilizer plants in Brazil

Date:08-16-2024

Agrion Fertilizers and the American manager Pegasus Capital Partners sealed an investment agreement that could reach up to R$ 50 million. The resources, from Global Fund for Coral Reefs, will be used to build ten new special fertilizer factories and to develop other products. The main shareholder of the American fund is the Green Climate Fund of the UN (United Nations).

Ernani Judice, CEO and founder of Agrion, will remain the majority shareholder, controller and responsible for managing the company. "This relevant investment from a North American fund will bring us a global ESG endorsement from the UN, in addition to allowing us to expand, as we have more than ten memorandums signed for new factories. It will also allow the development of new product lines, always with integrated production, circular economy and with a focus on increasing productivity while reducing environmental impacts in the plant nutrition segment," he said.

Currently, Agrion produces around 60 thousand tons of fertilizers at its factory located in Tupaciguara (Minas Gerais), together with the bioenergetic company Aroeira. The fertilizer is made from vinasse and filter cake, sugarcane waste generated by the plant, and sold to the plant itself and to the market. According to Judice, the goal is to replicate the model with 20 new plants over the next 10 years.

"We have enormous growth potential for the coming years," he said, remembering that Brazil currently has more than 400 sugarcane mills. The expectation is that the next two units will be installed in the state of São Paulo. The company's focus is to operate mainly in the states of Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and in the Northeast region.

The Global Fund for Coral Reefs, managed by Pegasus Capital Advisors, is the only fund supporting investments that benefit coastal marine habitats and coral reef health in the Global South.

According to Dale Garvin, Managing Director of the fund, the impact sectors financed by the initiative include the circular economy and pollution management. "The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture can lead to these inputs being washed into waterways, which in turn carry them out to sea, threatening coastal habitats and coral reefs. Among the impact sectors financed by the Fund are the circular economy and pollution management, which is where Agrion fits in. By providing a destination for highly polluting sugarcane waste, the company contributes to the resilience of marine ecosystems. This business model also supports the circular economy, as Agrion's product is then utilized by those farms and processors that generate the waste itself," explained Galvin.

Agrion produces gradual release organic mineral fertilizer, made from organic matter from filtering sugarcane juice (filter cake). It also produces four other types of fertilizers: bran fertilizer; liquid organic mineral (made from vinasse, another by-product of sugarcane); biological inputs; and is in the development phase of foliar fertilizers.

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