Private finance ploughs into Brazilian agriculture

Brazil’s agribusiness sector is booming on the back of sky-high commodity prices. The public banks that have long financed the sector now face a wave of new private-sector competitors.

“Not many years ago, when a farmer faced a problem, he could sell his pick-up truck and that would solve his problem. But, as the money that’s involved in production has gone through the roof, if there’s a cash flow shortfall, the sale of a pick-up isn’t going to bridge the financing gap. It could be R$2 million, R$10 million – R$20 million.”

Itaú BBA’s director of agribusiness, Pedro Fernandes, makes a reasonable point about increased scale in Brazil’s booming farming industry.

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