August 30, 2006

Brazil BNDES approves US$4.5 million for grain cooperative Coamo

Brazil's state-owned development bank, or BNDES, on Tuesday approved a loan of 9.6 million reals (US$4.5 million) for one of the country's leading grain cooperatives, Coamo Agroindustrial Cooperativa, to improve its logistical capacities, the bank said in a statement.

The cooperative currently boasts 3.3 million tonnes of warehouse capacity. The BNDES loan would help the cooperative to increase its warehouse capacity by an additional 34,500 tonnes for grains and 8,400 tonnes for inputs such as fertilisers and agro-toxins.

In addition, the loan would also help Coamo increase its grain-processing capacity, BNDES note.

The bank said the projects would help farmers at Coamo reduce the cost of freight and make its products more competitive on both the local and international markets.

Coamo is the largest cooperative in Latin America, with annual revenue of 2.6 billion reals and exports of US$356 million, BNDES said.

The cooperative is located in 53 cities in the states of Parana, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul. Its farmers produce 60,000 tonnes of seeds per year of soy, wheat, and oat. Coamo also owns soy-crushing operations, a soy oil refinery, a flour mill, and a cotton-thread plant, among other plants in those states.

Coamo will invest an additional 4.2 million reals of its own funds in the project.