SLC Agrícola (SLCE3) released on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, its projections for the 2026/27 crop year, including planted area, yields, production cost per hectare, hedge position for commodities and exchange rate, estimated cattle sales and seed production. The company projects a total planted area of 854.4 thousand hectares, an increase of 2.2% compared with the 2025/26 crop year, driven by second-crop cotton made possible mainly by the expansion of irrigated area.
Breaking down by crop for 2026/27, lint cotton should cover 200,360 hectares, of which 92,204 hectares in the 1st crop and 108,156 hectares in the 2nd crop. Soybeans (commercial and seed) are budgeted at 442,075 hectares, 2nd-crop corn at 154,607 hectares, and other crops at 57,329 hectares, including, among others, brachiaria, crambe, crotalaria, millet, forage turnip and wheat seeds, as well as eucalyptus, beans, 1st-crop corn, seed corn, mahogany, cattle, silage and sorghum.
The estimated yields for 2026/27 take into account the potential of the fields and the trend for each crop: 1st-crop lint cotton at 2,075 kg/ha, 2nd-crop lint cotton at 2,000 kg/ha, cottonseed at 2,503 kg/ha, soybeans (commercial and seed) at 4,080 kg/ha and 2nd-crop corn at 7,957 kg/ha. Budgeted costs per hectare for the 2026/27 crop year show an increase of 2.2% compared with the 2025/26 crop budget, with an average total cost of R$ 7,217 per hectare, versus R$ 7,062 per hectare, influenced by higher fertilizer prices in dollars and projected inflation of 4%, partially offset by lower pesticide prices in dollars and the appreciation of the real.
For the 2026/27 crop year, the budgeted cost per hectare is R$ 14,102 for 1st-crop lint cotton, R$ 13,088 for 2nd-crop lint cotton, R$ 5,292 for soybeans (commercial and seed) and R$ 4,510 for 2nd-crop corn. The company reports that 57% of production costs are indexed to the dollar and 43% to the real, and provides its hedge position: for soybeans, exchange-rate hedge of 23.8% at R$ 5.3916/US$ and commodity hedge of 52.9% at US$ 12.36/bushel; for cotton, exchange-rate hedge of 23.0% at R$ 5.7642/US$ and commodity hedge of 62.2% at 79.14 US cents per pound. For corn in the 2026/27 crop year, there is an exchange-rate hedge of 6.3% at R$ 5.5083/US$ and a commodity hedge of 6.3% at US$ 9.63 per 60-kg bag, with an average total hedge price of R$ 53.04 per 60-kg bag.
For 2027, SLC Agrícola estimates cattle sales of 112,500 head, reflecting the operational planning for the period. The company also projects seed production in 2027 of 86,280 big bags, of which 76,000 soybean seed, 6,280 cotton seed and 4,000 brachiaria seed, which will be destined for third-party sales, intercompany operations and internal consumption.
