The 100 leading Brazilian agribusiness companies in 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a turbulent year due to the coronavirus pandemic, few sectors escaped the crisis. Agribusiness was one of them, managing to maintain the positive production rate of the last few years, surprising with a record harvest and rising exports as a reflex of the dollar’s appreciation against the real.

“The year 2020 will go down in agribusiness history. We had firm food consumption in the internal and external markets, driven mainly by Asian demand and by the exchange rate. The devaluation of the Real made our product very competitive,” says Marcos Fava, professor at the University of São Paulo’s School of Economics, Business and Accounting of Ribeirão Preto (FEA-RP/USP) and the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s School of Business Administration of São Paulo (FGV EAESP).

The 2019/2020 grain harvest (planted in 2019 and harvested last year) set a record of 257.8 million tons, up 4.5% from the previous season, according to the National Food Supply Company (CONAB). The numbers prove that agribusiness did not step on the brakes during the crisis and kept working, preventing shortages during the pandemic.

Every year, Forbes publishes a list of the most outstanding Brazilian agribusiness companies. Below are the 100 leading publicly-traded companies in the country, their challenges, and their perspectives.

THE FIGURES SOURCE

To prepare the list, which was based on information from the companies’ financial statements, the Standard & Poor’s agency, the National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), and Economatica financial information firm considered companies with revenues of at least R$1 billion in 2019 in Brazil. Each company or group’s degree of activity in Brazilian agribusiness was also considered, even if its main activity is indirectly related to the national agricultural and livestock production.

The complete list:

1. JBS
Industry: Animal protein
Founded: 1953, in Anápolis (GO)
Revenue: R$204.5 billion
Chief Executive: Gilberto Tomazoni

The leading animal protein company and the second-largest food company in the world, JBS is the second biggest Brazilian company and the main private company in terms of revenues. A giant with more than 240,000 employees in 400 production units spread over 15 countries in 5 continents, the company that started as a butcher shop in the countryside of Goiás in the 1950s currently goes far beyond beef, pork, and poultry: it has related businesses, such as leather, biodiesel, personal care and cleaning, solid waste management solutions, and metallic packaging. One of the most internationalized companies of Brazilian origin, JBS serves about 275,000 customers in more than 190 countries. In 2019, it posted its best result ever, with revenues exceeding R$200 billion and net income above R$6 billion.

2. RAÍZEN ENERGIA
Sector: bioenergy
Founded: 2011, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$120.6 billion
Chief Executive: Ricardo Dell Aquila Mussa

Brazil’s leading producer of sugarcane ethanol and the largest single exporter of cane sugar on the international market, Raízen emerged as a joint venture between Cosan and Shell do Brasil. It is responsible for the production of about 2.5 billion liters of sugar cane ethanol per year for the domestic and foreign markets. Besides biofuel, the current 26 units produce 73 million tons of sugar annually and have 1 gigawatt of installed capacity to produce electricity from sugarcane bagasse. In the fuel area, the company sells 25 billion liters to the transport and industry segments through its 65 distribution terminals, in addition to supplying its network of 7,000 Shell-branded service stations and 66 airports. Raízen employs more than 30,000 employees.

3. COSAN
Industry: Bioenergy
Founded: 1936, in Piracicaba (SP)
Revenue: R$73.0 billion
Main executive: Luis Henrique Cals de Beauclair Guimarães

One of the largest bioenergy companies in the country, COSAN was born when brothers Pedro and João Ometto partnered with businessman Mário Dedini to buy the Costa Pinto mill in Piracicaba (SP). In 1989, the group became the largest sugar and ethanol producer in the world, with 22 companies and a milling capacity of 10.5 million tons of sugarcane (5% of the Brazilian total). Today it exports ethanol and sugar, generating energy from sugarcane bagasse. It also supplies piped gas in Brazil and operates in the logistics of sugar and other bulk solids destined for export. With the production of lubricants and specialties, it exports to more than 40 countries in South America, Europe, and Asia. In 2012, it acquired control of Companhia de Gás de São Paulo (Comgás), privatized by the state government, expanding its operations in the energy area.

4. AMBEV
Sector: indirect agribusiness
Founded: 1999, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$52.6 billion
Chief Executive: Jean Jereissati Neto

The largest brewery in the world, born from the purchase of Antarctica by Brahma, the industrial giant Ambev also operates in agribusiness. The brewery is a voracious consumer of barley, the raw material for malt, the main ingredient in beer. Ambev produces barley directly in Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, and also works in partnership with cooperatives in these regions, which produce barley to supply their maltings. The company has also been investing in new products, such as a beer made from cassava. Ambev is seen as one of the most promising companies by investment analysts.

5. MARFRIG GLOBAL FOODS
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 2000, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$48.8 billion
Main Executive: Miguel de Souza Gularte (South America)

The second-largest animal protein company in the world, Marfrig is now an international company. In 2019, more than 70% of revenue came from its operations in North America. Marfrig has the capacity to slaughter 31,200 cattle and 6,500 sheep per day. The company bought, and later sold, units of Seara Alimentos and the American Moy Park. Later, it acquired leading companies in the United States, such as Keystone and National Beef. More recently, Marfrig has invested in units sold by BRF. Its most recent initiative, in partnership with the trading company Archer Daniels Midland, is the development and large-scale production of hamburgers and other products based on vegetable protein.

6. CARGILL AGRÍCOLA
Sector: Trading
Founded: 1865, in Conover, Iowa (USA). In Brazil since 1965
Revenue: R$48.7 billion
Chief Executive: Paulo Sousa

Over 150 years old, Cargill is the largest privately held company in the United States, and one of the few whose control remains entirely in the hands of the founding family. The company started as a grain warehouse, later expanding into other commodities. Today, Cargill operates in the food, energy, and logistics sectors. In Brazil since 1965 and employing about 11,000 staff, it is one of the largest food industries in the country. It is present in 17 Brazilian states and the Federal District through industrial units, warehouses, port terminals, and offices in 147 municipalities. It owns traditional brands in the consumer market, such as Mazola corn oil, Lisa’s mayonnaise, and Elefante sauces and tomato extract.

7. ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND (ADM)
Sector: Trading
Founded: 1902, in Minneapolis (USA). In Brazil since 1997
Revenue: R$48.7 billion
Chief Executive: Luciano Botelho

Founded in 1902 by George A. Archer and John W. Daniels, the company started its activities crushing linseed to produce oil. In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired control of Midland Linseed Company, founding Archer-Daniels Midland, today ADM. In addition to trading, the group operates in various sectors, such as food processing and nutrition. It started its operations in Brazil in 1997 after buying several crushing facilities, grain elevators, and silos from Glencore. It employs about 3,300 workers in the country. Its main activities in Brazil are the commercialization and processing of soybeans and corn, in addition to the production of animal feed, biofuels, chemical products, and supplies for the industry.

8. BUNGE ALIMENTOS
Sector: trading
Founded: 1818, in Amsterdam (Netherlands). In Brazil since 1914
Revenue: R$37.6 billion
Chief Executive: Raúl Padilla

Born as a grain trading company in 1818 in The Netherlands, Bunge is different from the other leaders in the industry because of its early internationalization. In 1876, one of the successors of the founding family settled in Argentina to facilitate the export of wheat to Europe. Today, the company is in 35 countries and employs 35,000 people. In Brazil since 1914, Bunge has about 100 units that include factories, mills, plants, ports, distribution centers, silos, and port facilities. It employs approximately 17,000 people and is a leader in grain origination and soybean and wheat processing, logistics, and the manufacturing of food products. It produces oils, mayonnaise, margarine with brands such as Soya, Delícia, Primor, Salada, Cardeal, Suprema, and Gradina. Since 2006, it also operates in the sugar and bioenergy segments.

9. BRF
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 2009, in São Paulo (merger of Perdigão and Sadia)
Revenue: R$33.5 billion
Chief Executive: Lorival Luz

BRF was created in 2009 by the merger of two competitors. Perdigão, founded in 1930 in Videira (SC), and Sadia, which was founded in the following decade in Concórdia, also in Santa Catarina. As a result of the merger, BRF is one of the largest food companies in the world and is the top exporter of chicken meat in Brazil. It has more than 30 brands in its portfolio. In recent years, the company’s shares have been impacted by changes in management, which privileged the financial aspect and made room for competition to grow, mainly in the processed food segment. In 2019, BRF was faced with the rise of commodities in the international market, which put pressure on its profit margins. There were rumors that the company was negotiating a merger with Marfrig, but the talks did not prosper.

10. COPERSUCAR
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1959, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$29.9 billion
Chief Executive: João Teixeira

It is the largest cooperative in Brazil and has a unique business model in the sugar-energy sector, which includes all the links in the sugar and ethanol chain, from monitoring the harvest in the field to the final markets, including storage, transportation, and marketing. In the last crop year, it produced 3.7 million tons of sugar – 1.9 million tons were exported and 1.8 million tons were sold in the domestic market. Ethanol production was also significant, with 5 billion liters sold. Of this total, 4.7 billion were destined for the domestic market. Since 2012, Copersucar has had a stake in the trading company Eco-Energy, which in the most recent crop year handled 9.2 billion liters of ethanol, mainly in the US market.

11. SUZANO
Sector: Pulp, wood, and paper
Founded: 1924, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$26.0 billion
Chief Executive: Walter Schalka

Brazil’s largest pulp company expects prices to pick up in the short term. In addition, the expansion of supply will generate fiercer competition. This should benefit Suzano, whose production costs are among the lowest in the world and maintains a strong cash generation even in periods of low international prices. When it equates its high debt, it will be able to start investing in the plant in Ribas do Rio Pardo (MS). With a distance of only 60 kilometers between the mill and the forest, the so-called project l has the potential to be one of the most competitive in the market, consolidating the company as the lowest-cost producer.

12. COFCO INTERNATIONAL BRASIL
Sector: trading
Founded: 1949, in Beijing (China). In Brazil since 1974
Revenue: R$23.8 billion
Chief Executive: Philip Xu

Founded in 1949, right after the Communist Revolution in China, COFCO was, for decades, the only state-owned importer and exporter of agricultural products and inputs in China. Today, it is one of the largest trading companies in the world. In 2019, the company transported 106 million tons of soybeans, grains, sugar, cotton, and coffee. Cofco began its activities buying Brazilian soybeans in 1974, after diplomatic relations between China and Brazil were re-established. Last year, the company expanded its activities in Brazil, increasing its investments in grain storage and processing.

13. LOUIS DREYFUS
Sector: Trading
Founded: 1851, in Alsace (France). In Brazil since 1942
Revenue: R$20.6 billion
Main executive: Murilo Parada

Founded in 1851 in the French region of Alsace and dedicated to exporting wheat from France to Switzerland, Louis Dreyfus is today one of the main companies dedicated to grain trading and processing. It is also one of the few centennial companies whose control remains with the founding family. In Brazil since 1942, when it emerged through the acquisition of Coinbra, Louis Dreyfus is active in coffee, cotton, grains, juices, oilseeds, rice, and sugar, and is one of the top 10 exporters in Brazil. The company operates around 60 industrial and logistics units in the country and employs 11,000 people. It entered the processed corn market in Brazil with the acquisition of Kowalski Alimentos, operating the two largest dry corn processing plants in the country. In addition, activities include processing units, warehouses, transshipment stations, and port terminals, as well as a fleet of pushers and river barges.

14. AMAGGI
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1977, in São Miguel do Iguaçu (PR)
Revenue: R$18.8 billion
Chief Executive: Judiney Carvalho

The Amaggi group was one of the pioneers in large-scale soybean production in Mato Grosso. The group acquired its first land in the state in 1979. Currently, besides being the largest soybean producer with 100% national capital, the group operates in three other areas: trading, logistics, and energy. In trading, the group exports soybeans and corn and imports and distributes agricultural inputs, with offices and representations in Argentina, Paraguay, Holland, Switzerland, and China. In logistics, the group created and manages the Northwest Export Corridor, formed by the Madeira and Amazon rivers, through which grains from the northwestern regions of Mato Grosso and southern Rondônia are transported. In energy, the group has the capacity to generate 70 megawatts through 5 Small Hydroelectric Plants (SHP) installed in Mato Grosso and a thermoelectric plant installed in Itacoatiara (AM).

15. MINERVA FOODS
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1957, in Barretos (SP)
Revenue: R$17.1 billion
Main Executive: Fernando Galetti de Queiroz

Minerva Foods has been standing out in the Brazilian agribusiness scenario for its management techniques. The company is not the largest producer of animal protein in the country, but it is one of its main exporters and has been successful in closing partnerships outside Brazil. In 2019, before the pandemic, it established partnerships with Chinese companies to explore opportunities to export meat to the Chinese market. The company stands out for sustainability. In 2019, it achieved goals such as reducing water consumption by 6.5% and electricity by 5% per ton of protein produced. In the year, Minerva Foods also recycled around 3,000 tons of solid waste in Brazil alone. Considering all its plants in South America, the company also reduced GHG (Greenhouse Gases) emissions by 41%, contributing to fighting climate change.

16. COAMO
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1970, in Campo Mourão (PR)
Revenue: R$13.2 billion
Chief Executive: José Aroldo Gallassini

Founded on November 28th, 1970 by a group of 79 farmers in Campo Mourão, in the midwest region of Paraná, COAMO has 110 units located in 71 municipalities in Paraná, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul, to receive the agricultural production of more than 29,000 members. It employs about 8,000 permanent workers. In 2019, it accounted for 3.1% of Brazil’s grain production. The cooperative has a 6.59 million tons storage capacity. The main product is soybeans, followed by corn, wheat, and coffee. COAMO has a sea terminal in Paranaguá and two industrial parks in Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it crushes soybeans and produces vegetable fats, as well as roasting and grinding coffee, grinding wheat, and spinning cotton.

17. GAVILON DO BRASIL
Sector: Trading
Founded: 1874, in Sioux City (USA). In Brazil since 2013
Revenue: R$10.6 billion
Chief Executive: Marcelo Grimaldi

Founded as a trading company in the American Midwest to trade grain under the name of F. H. Peavey, the company remained with its founders for over 100 years, until 1982, when it was purchased by US ConAgra Foods. Subsequently, Gavilon was acquired in 2013 by the Japanese trading company Marubeni, which already had operations in Brazil. The company is one of the largest national trading companies and one of the leaders in soybean exports. Gavilon’s soybean sales from Brazil to China, the world’s largest exporter and importer respectively, have increased more than 20 times in 4 years to 4.5 million tons in 2019, making it the 5th largest player in the business.

18. TEREOS
Sector: bioenergy
Founded: 1932, in Aisne (France). In Brazil since 2002
Revenue: R$10.5 billion
Chief Executive: Pierre Santoul

Founded by a cooperative of sugar beet farmers in northwest France to produce sugar, Tereos is the third largest sugar and ethanol company in the world. It began its internationalization process in the 1990s and came to Brazil in late 1999 through an investment in COSAN. Two years later, it bought a French company controlling Açúcar Guarani, still its main asset in Brazil today. In addition to Guarani, Tereos in Brazil comprises Tereos Açúcar & Energia Brasil, Tereos Amido & Adoçantes Brasil and Tereos Commodities Brasil. It has 7 processing units and two refineries and plants for the production of corn and cassava derivatives. Tereos Commodities Brasil operates as a trading company and has offices in 7 countries.

19. KLABIN
Sector: Pulp, wood and paper
Founded: 1890, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$10.3 billion
Chief Executive: Cristiano Teixeira

One of the largest and oldest paper and cardboard mills in Brazil, Klabin started as a stationery store in São Paulo, founded by Lithuanian immigrant Mauricio Freeman Klabin. Its activities comprise 4 areas: forestry, pulp, paper, and packaging. It has 24 industrial units in Brazil and one in Argentina, and employs 23,000 people, among direct and indirect employees. In 2019, the company launched the Puma II Project, which comprises the construction of two packaging paper machines (kraftliner), with integrated pulp production, in Ortigueira (PR). Two paper machines will be installed, the first to be delivered in 2021, with a capacity of 450,000 tons per year, and the second planned for 2023, with a capacity of 470,000 tons per year. Total investments will be R$9.1 billion.

20. AURORA
Sector: cooperatives
Founded: 1969, in Chapecó (SC)
Revenue: R$9.9 billion
Top executive: Neivor Canton

It was born from the union of eight cooperatives in the west of Santa Catarina. The aim was to improve grain trading conditions and allow the purchase of a slaughterhouse to absorb the swine production of cooperative members. It is one of the leaders in the production of animal protein in Brazil, as well as a producer and exporter of grains. There are 11 associated cooperatives, 30,000 direct and 10,000 indirect employees. The units are located in Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso do Sul. There are 7 swine units, which process 5.2 million head per year, and 8 poultry units, which slaughter 242.6 million head per year. In 2019, it authorized investments in its 7th feed production unit. The 6 existing units have a capacity of 175,000 tons per month in poultry and pork feed.

21. C .VALE
Sector: Cooperatives
Foundation: 1963, in Palotina (PR)
Revenue: R$8.9 billion
Chief Executive: Alfredo Lang

C.Vale is an agro-industrial cooperative with operations in Paraná, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraguay. It has 156 business units, 23,000 members, and employs 11,000 employees. It produces soy, corn, wheat, cassava, milk, chicken, fish, and pork, with the capacity to slaughter 600,000 chickens a day. In the industrial segment, it produces modified cassava starch and animal feed. It sells inputs, parts, and accessories, resells agricultural machinery, and maintains a supermarket chain with 8 stores in Paraná, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul. It was founded by a group of 24 farmers from Paraná with difficulties in storing production, disposing of the crop, and securing credit and technical assistance. In 2019, it achieved the highest sales in its history – revenues have been growing year after year since 2010.

22. BAYER
Industry: indirect agribusiness
Founded: 1863, in Wuppertal (Germany). In Brazil since 1896, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$8.5 billion
Main Executive: Marc Reichardt

Founded in Germany as a small dye factory, Bayer soon established itself as a chemical industry. It was one of the first German companies to go international, starting this process in 1881. Fifteen years later the company inaugurated its Brazilian subsidiary, also focused on dyes and paints. Almost 125 years later, Bayer is one of the leaders in Brazilian agribusiness. In addition to its well-known activities in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, the company is active in the sector through its subsidiary Bayer CropScience. In 2018, it significantly expanded its activities with the acquisition of American Monsanto, one of the pioneers in the development of transgenic seeds.

23. LAR COOPERATIVA
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1964, in Missal (PR)
Revenue: R$6.7 billion
Main executive: Irineo da Costa Rodrigues

It was founded in the former Gleba dos Bispos, today Missal (PR), by a group of 55 farmers of German descent coming from Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Originally producing only for subsistence, in the following decades they started to work in poultry, pig, and dairy farming. There are also industrial activities, with food processing, feed production, wood treatment, and the production of piglets, chicks, and semen. Lar’s activities are spread over 28 units in the states of Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Santa Catarina, as well as Paraguay. It has 10,000 associates and employs 13,000 employees. In addition to its production units, Lar manages a network of 13 supermarkets and 7 gas stations.

24. BIOSEV
Industry: Bioenergy
Founded: 2000, in Leme (SP)
Revenue: R$6.6 billion
Chief Executive: Juan José Blanchard

Biosev resulted from the Louis Dreyfus group’s decision to diversify its activities by investing in bioenergy generation through the acquisition of the Cresciumal mill. The company expanded its activities mainly through acquisitions, but also by building plants. Over the years, it has increased its annual processing capacity from 900,000 tons to 31.6 million tons of sugarcane. It has 8 agroindustrial units in operation in the states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Minas Gerais, as well as its own terminal in the port of Santos (SP), employing more than 10,000 employees. This year, Biosev interrupted a sequence of negative results and posted a profit of R$423.6 million in the second quarter of the 2020/21 crop year. The result was sustained by the strong movement of sugar and ethanol exports.

25. M. DIAS BRANCO
Sector: mills and pasta
Founded: 1936, in Eusébio (CE)
Revenue: R$6.1 billion
Main executive: Francisco Ivens De Sá Dias Branco Júnior

Owner of 19 food brands, among them Adria, Vitarella, Piraquê, Basilar, Zabet Isabela, and Fortaleza, M.Dias Branco, a company that manufactures, markets, and distributes cookies, pasta, cakes, snacks, wheat flour, margarine, and vegetable fats, achieved a historic achievement in its performance when it announced a record for its quarterly net revenue – R$2 billion in the third quarter. Net income grew 97.3% in this period. A result of continued investment, in 2019 the company had a 1.1% increase in revenue, compared to the preceding year. Currently led by Francisco Ivens De Sá Dias Branco Júnior, the family’s 3rd generation, the company born from a bakery in the capital city of Ceará has become a national leader in the production of pasta and cookies. To reach this position, it bet on verticalization, consolidated brands, and, recently, a strong line of exports – in 5 years, it skyrocketed from R$23.4 million to R$62.2 million (2019). This year, the accumulated is a record, with R$ 174.7 million in products sold.

26. CAMIL ALIMENTOS
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1963, in Itaqui (RS)
Revenue: R$4.8 billion
Main executive: Luciano Maggi Quartiero

Rice and beans have not defined Camil Alimentos for a long time. In addition to its own brand, the company owns other renowned names in sugar, fish, and cookies, such as Coqueiro, União, DaBarra, Pai João and Carreteiro. It also owns brands such as Costeño, Saman, and Tucapel in South America. Camil treads a path of continuous growth, reinforced in 2017 by the IPO. In its initial offering of shares, each was worth R$9. In November 2020, it increased to R$11, an appreciation of over 25%. The trajectory of investments continues. Last year, Camil invested R$22 million to build its 12th factory in the country and the 2nd in the Northeast, in Suape (PE), with a capacity to process 10,000 tons of rice, beans, and sugar per month. In the previous year, it had bought SLC Alimentos, one of the largest grain companies in Brazil, valued at R$308 million at the time. In April this year, it took over Castrolanda’s bean production unit, a cooperative from Paraná state focused on animal protein.

27. COOPERCITRUS
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1976, in Bebedouro (SP)
Revenue: R$4.6 billion
Chief Executive: Fernando Degobbi

Coopercitrus is a powerhouse as a cooperative organization. Since its foundation, it has expanded its operations to grain (coffee and corn), sugar, soybean seed production and processing, inputs, animal feed, agricultural machinery dealers, convenience stores, rural shopping malls, and gas stations. At the base of this movement are about 35,000 farmers in the states of São Paulo, Minas, and Goiás, who rely on about 60 branches for technical support and service structures. But the cooperative is not only a physical structure. Its main function is to bring knowledge to the field to enable the management of its thousands of members. In this direction, last year the cooperative created another branch, the Coopercitrus Credicitrus Foundation, an institution for teaching, research, education, and diffusion of new technologies. A new building, which will house the educational sector, is scheduled for delivery in July 2021.

28. ATVOS AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: bioenergy
Founded: 2007, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$4.6 billion
Chief Executive: Juliana Baiard

Whatever the fate of Atvos Agroindustrial, controlled by Odebrecht and under judicial reorganization, Atvos should maintain a strong presence in agribusiness. With 9 sugar and ethanol plants in São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás, last year the company processed 26.9 million tons of sugarcane, 200,000 tons above the previous harvest. A total of 66% of the processed product came from the company’s own land, with the balance from partner farmers. Total cultivation covers 70,000 hectares. Ethanol is the main product commercialized. Atvos is the second-largest producer in the country, with 2 billion liters of biofuel in the last harvest. Moreover, sugar processing yielded 235,000 tons and the energy cogenerated from sugarcane bagasse was 2.8 thousand gigawatt-hours (GWh). With debts of around R$15 billion, the company has been creating mechanisms to strengthen its governance, such as a Board of Directors, in which most of its members are independent of the company.

29. COMIGO
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1975, in Rio Verde (GO)
Revenue: R$4.5 billion
Top executive: Antonio Chavaglia

What started with 50 producers willing to change the profile of a region, it currently comprises 8,500 in the Agroindustrial Cooperative of Rural Producers of Southwest Goias (Comigo). With 45 years of existence, it is a powerhouse installed in Rio Verde, a city placed 5th in the national ranking of the value of agricultural production, according to the IBGE. The estimate for Goiás is that this value reaches R$61.9 billion, up 10% over 2019. Comigo’s structure holds 11 soybean oil processors, plus soybean meal, fertilizers, feed, mineral supplements, and seeds. In addition, it has 20 warehouses for 1.8 million tons of grain, 16 agricultural stores, and the “apple of its eye” that goes by the name of Institute of Science and Technology (ITC).

30. COCAMAR AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1963, in Maringá (PR)
Revenue: R$ 4.4 billion
Main executive: Divanir Higino

With 15,000 members who produce soy, corn, wheat, coffee, and oranges, Cocamar no longer operates only in the state of Paraná. It is also present in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul. In agribusiness, diversification ranges from beverage processing, toasting, oil filling, ethanol, bio-inputs, supplements, and animal feed, to wood treatment and textile industry. The 2020-2025 planning foresees doubling the annual revenue and reaching R$ 10 billion. To this end, Cocamar must invest R$1 billion in storage structures, supply stores, and several facilities – and maintain one of the main incentive projects for the adoption of the ILPF System (Integration of Crop-Livestock-Forest) in the Caiuá Sandstone region. There are 107 municipalities in Paraná, with 3.2 million hectares in areas of poor soils, but that can be reversed with the technique.

31. ELDORADO BRASIL CELULOSE
Sector: Pulp, wood and paper
Founded: 2005, in Três Lagoas (MS)
Revenue: R$4.3 billion
Chief Executive: Aguinaldo Gomes Ramos Filho

Last year, Eldorado processed 1.7 million tons of hardwood pulp from eucalyptus trees, but its goal is to double production. The Brazilian, Canadian and French capital company is preparing a second line in its plant, a R$10 billion project to raise capacity to 4.2 million tons. The works started in 2015, are practically ready. In the field, Eldorado manages 222,000 hectares of productive areas and 129,000 of conservation areas. But with the second line in full operation, 400,000 hectares will need to be cultivated with eucalyptus. Brazil is among the main producers and tops the list of global pulp exporters. Last year it produced 19.6 million tons of pulp, of which 14.7 million tons were exported. In the medium term, until 2030, it is estimated that the country will export 20.3 million tons.

32. COOXUPÉ
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1932, in Guaxupé (Minas Gerais)
Revenue: R$4.2 billion
Main executive: Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo

The Regional Coffee Growers Cooperative in Guaxupé has 15,000 members, 95% of whom are small producers spread around 200 municipalities in the southern Minas Gerais, Cerrado Mineiro and Vale do Rio Pardo regions in São Paulo. In Brazil there are 97 coffee cooperatives, and Cooxupé is the largest of them. Last year, it shipped 5.5 million bags to 51 countries, making it the largest individual coffee exporter in the world. In addition, it has a strong presence in the sector of fine, specialty, and certified coffees, through the company SMC, founded in 2009. To meet the demand, including that of the domestic market, the cooperative members produced a volume of 5.1 million bags in 2019 and another equal amount was purchased in the market.

33. BIANCHINI
Sector: grains and oils
Foundation: 1960, in Bento Gonçalves (RS)
Revenue: R$4.2 billion
Main executive: Antônio Bianchini

The company was born from the partnership of 3 friends and completes half a century this year. It is a soybean processor that produces oil, soy meal, and biodiesel. It has ten receiving units, two factories, and an export complex in the port of Rio Grande, one of the important outflow channels for the production of agricultural commodities. Bianchini’s terminal, which receives products by trucks and trains, can store soybeans (grain, oil, and bran), as well as corn, wheat, and paddy rice. The storage volume is 1.2 million tons of bran and grain, and 115,000 tons of vegetable oils. Given its structure, the company has also become a major service provider to the agribusiness, with shipping capacity of around 3,000 tons/hour.

34. COPACOL
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1963, in Cafelândia (PR)
Revenue: R$4.1 billion
Chief Executive: Valter Pitol

What to do when the basics, like electricity, are lacking? The Consolata Agroindustrial Cooperative, Copacol, was born from this demand and the will of a priest and 32 farmers migrating from Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul to Paraná. At the time, they produced beans, rice, corn, and coffee. Today, with 6,000 members, Copacol is a complex that produces soy, corn, and wheat as main crops, plus poultry, pigs, dairy cattle, fish, and animal feed. Last year 172 million poultry, 42 million fish (14.9 thousand tons), and 335,000 pigs were slaughtered, besides the production of 11.3 million liters of milk. To maintain its industries and commercial structures, Copacol generates 10,000 direct jobs. They are needed to process food and place it in its own wholesale and supermarkets.

35. CARAMURU ALIMENTOS
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1964, in Maringá (PR)
Revenue: R$4.1 billion
Main Executive: Alberto Borges de Souza

Caramuru has become one of the largest national capital companies in soybean, corn, sunflower seeds, and canola processing. The company – which processes grains, sells in the market, exports its derivatives, and produces biodiesel – operates in the state of Goiás, where it moved its headquarters in the 1970s, as well as Paraná, Mato Grosso, and São Paulo. There are 67 warehouses with a capacity exceeding 2 million tons of grain, 11 processing units, and port terminals in Santos (SP) and Tubarão (ES) and through the northern arch through Itaituba (PA) and Santana (AP). Besides exports, in the domestic market, it is a supplier of raw material for manufacturers of pasta, cookies, snacks, corn flakes, and segments, such as breweries, mining, and feed industries. The grains processed by Caramuru come from around 14,000 rural properties of 5,500 producers.

36. TRÊS CORAÇÕES ALIMENTOS
Sector: Beverages, coffee and juices
Founded: 1959, in São Miguel (state of Rio Grande do Norte)
Revenue: R$4.0 billion
Chief Executive: Pedro Lima

The largest company in the coffee segment in the country, it started the year by making its biggest acquisition in the local market. The group bought the roasted and ground coffee division of Mitsui Alimentos, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. Ltd. in Japan, and Mitsui & Co. Brasil, a deal valued at R$210 million. This move places the company as the owner of 29 coffee brands, in addition to multi-beverage machines, chocolate drinks, soft drinks, seasonings, and corn-based products. Acquisitions have been the growth model of the group founded by João Alves de Lima, today with his heirs under the umbrella of São Miguel Holding, which holds 50% of the shares, and of the Israeli Strauss, with the other 50%. The company also exports coffees to the main Latin American markets, in addition to the USA, Japan, and China.

37. BELAGRÍCOLA
Sector: Grains and oils
Founded: 1985, in Bela Vista do Paraíso (PR)
Revenue: R$4.0 billion
Chief Executive: Flávio Barbosa Andreo

With an eye on the potential of Brazilian agribusiness, in 2017 Chinese company Dakang International Food & Agriculture, the Brazilian arm of Shanghai Pengxin, bought 53.99% of Belagrícola, on one condition: that the heirs of the founder, João Andreo Colofatti, remained in the management of the business. The step taken by the family opened a direct sales channel to the Asian country for grains, especially soybeans and corn. Operating in Paraná, São Paulo, and Santa Catarina, the company has 38 grain receiving units, 55 supply stores, and employs 1,600 workers. The business ranges from selling the seed to buying the production. One of its strongest policies is the incentive to the use of barter by producers. In the exchange of grains for products and services, farmers cut their costs and the company guarantees the commodities in its portfolio.

38. SÃO MARTINHO
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1907, in Pradópolis (SP)
Revenue: R$3.7 billion
Main executive: Fábio Venturelli

Controlled by the holding company LJN Participações, owned by the Ometto family, sugar and ethanol group São Martinho is a giant in the bioenergy sector. Listed on B3’s Novo Mercado, its market value is around R$8.5 billion. In the closed harvest, it processed 22.6 million tons of sugarcane, a record in its history. And it exported a total of 913,000 MWh of electricity. The group has 3 production units in São Paulo and one in Goiás. The plantations cover 350,000 hectares. Although its main activity is the processing of sugar and ethanol, the group’s most recent plan foresees an investment of around R$350 million until 2022, intended for the cogeneration of energy in its main mill, the Pradópolis mill, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.

39. COOPER ALFA
Sector: cooperatives
Founded: 1967, in Chapecó (SC)
Revenue: R$3.5 billion
Chief Executive: Romeo Bet

With 20,000 producers based in western Santa Catarina and a small branch in Mato Grosso do Sul, Alfa Agroindustrial Cooperative supports its activities on the grain, livestock, and supplies tripod. Among stores, silos, supermarkets, hoppers, farms, distribution centers, processing industries, gas stations, and supplies, such as fertilizers, seeds, and feed, the cooperative operates 219 businesses. Last year, producers delivered 22.4 million sacks of cereals, among soy, corn, wheat, and beans, and produced 1.3 million pigs and 103.8 million poultry, besides 143.5 million liters of milk. Comprised of small and medium producers, in addition to the income from crops, last year the cooperative distributed R$149 million as cash surplus, which in private companies would rpresent the transfer of profits.

40. LATICÍNIOS BELA VISTA
Industry: Dairy products
Founded: 1955, in Piracanjuba (GO)
Revenue: R$3.5 billion
Main executive: Marcos Helou

Born as Piracanjuba, the name that made the brand known, the Bela Vista group has become one of the largest dairy product companies in the country. There are 7 mother brands and about 160 products, with dairies in the states of Goiás, the company’s birthplace, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, and Paraná. Last year, 8,300 cattle farmers delivered 1.4 billion liters of milk to the group’s units, 5.1% more than the previous year. In milk reception, the company founded by brothers César and Marcos Helou is second only to the Swiss company Nestlé. Last year, the brothers took over the production and commercialization of the brands Molico and Ninho, licensed from Nestlé. This year, they became responsible for the total operations of the dairy in Carazinho (RS), where these products are processed.

41. AGRÁRIA
Sector: cooperatives
Founded: 1951, in Guarapuava (PR)
Revenue: R$ 3.4 billion
Chief Executive: Jorge Karl

Agrária is an agro-industrial cooperative, with its origins in a colony of Germans who came to Brazil. At the time, 500 families fled the conflicts of World War II. Today, Agrária comprises 632 soy, corn, wheat, and animal husbandry producers. The structure covers business units – with factories, logistics, and commercial structure – in the sectors of malt for the brewing industry, oils and bran, flour, animal nutrition, seeds, and processed corn, such as grits, flakes, cornmeal, creams, and germ. The cooperative also commercializes pigs, milk, and grains produced by the cooperative members. To develop and adapt technologies to its productive chains, it relies on the support of the Agricultural Research Foundation (FAPA). Such as a new barley cultivar (variety), presented last year, after almost 10 years of research.

42. CASTROLANDA
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1951, in Castro (PR)
Revenue: R$ 3.4 billion
Chief Executive: Willem Berend Bouwman

A windmill, an image that reminds us of the Nordic European countries, is the symbol of one of the most notable brands of the Brazilian cooperative movement: Castrolanda. It owns 12 brands that process products from the fields of 1,100 cooperative members – among them are dairy products, pork processed products, and lamb cuts. The profile of the producers is varied, ranging from large productions to family farming. In recent years, Castrolanda has taken an important step towards very bold business management. Together with two other cooperatives from Paraná, Frísia and Capal, a holding company was founded to secure gains of scale. Joining the 3 cooperatives for grain products and animal protein, 5,100 cooperative members produce for the domestic market and now export to 25 countries.

43. INTEGRADA COOPERATIVA AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1995, in Londrina (PR)
Revenue: R$3.3 billion
Main executive: Jorge Hashimoto

Last year, the Integrada Cooperativa Agroindustrial achieved two milestones in its history: it surpassed the mark of 10,000 members and broke its billing record with revenues of R$ 3.25 billion. In the states of Paraná and São Paulo, 64 receiving units for agricultural products are installed, the main ones being soy, corn, wheat, coffee, and oranges. For grains alone, the cooperative receives more than 2.5 million tons per year. There is also a complex part of the cooperative body, such as assistance, research, and a whole range of businesses built to support production, among them processing units, machinery resale, and industrial units for corn, fruit juice, and animal feed.

44. BSBIOS BIODIESEL
Sector: bioenergy
Foundation: 2005, in Passo Fundo (RS)
Revenue: R$3.0 billion
Chief Executive: Erasmo Carlos Battistella

In Brazil there are 58 biodiesel plants based on several types of raw material, the main ones being soy and animal tallow. BSBios is among the largest in the national production of biodiesel, with 2 units: in Passo Fundo (RS) and Marialva (PR). The processing of soy, the raw material for BSBios’ biodiesel, exceeds 1 million tons per year. In addition to renewable diesel, the company delivers as co-products soy meal, glycerin, and sludge, a vegetable oil byproduct. This year, the increase in the mandatory blend of biodiesel in petroleum diesel to 12%, the so-called B12, came into force in the country. In 2019, consumption stood at 5.84 billion liters. The estimate at the beginning of the year was to add 1.4 billion liters of capacity in 2020. Logistics and transportation are among the sectors that quickly rebounded from the initial impact of the pandemic.

45. CITROSUCO
Sector: Beverages, coffee, and juices
Founded: 1963, in Matão (SP)
Revenue: R$2.9 billion
Chief Executive: Mário Bavaresco Junior

A subsidiary of the Votorantim Group, it is the largest global exporter of concentrated orange juice. It also sells industrialized by-products of the fruit, such as animal feed and essential oils. The company’s largest markets are the United States and European countries. In total, there are about 100 buying countries, such as Australia, Japan, and China. The Chinese are still in the industry’s sights, because only 5% of the orange produced in the country is turned into juice. Citrosuco has 29 production farms in São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It also has 4 processing units, including one in Lake Wales, USA. To handle its global presence, the company has 5 dedicated ships and a multi-cargo ship. Besides the port of Santos, it has its own terminals in Wilmington (USA), Gent (Belgium), Toyohashi (Japan), and Newcastle (Australia).

46. COOPERATIVA FRÍSIA
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1925, in Carambeí (PR)
Revenue: R$ 2.9 billion
Main executive: Renato Greidanus

On August 1st, Frísia Agroindustrial Cooperative celebrated its 95th anniversary. It is the oldest organization of this sector in operation in Paraná and the second oldest in the country. The cooperative comprises 857 producers in about 30 municipalities in Paraná and 16 municipalities in Tocantins, where it reached in 2016. Currently, 64 local cooperative members produce 70,000 tons of soy and corn on 30,000 hectares. In total, cooperative members delivered 253 million liters of milk and 27.100 tons of pork last year. Crops yielded 122,000 hectares for soy, 23,000 hectares for corn, 36.500 hectares for wheat, and 5,600 hectares for beans. In industrialized products, the Batavo brand is the best known by consumers in large cities.

47. FRIMESA
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1977, in Medianeira (PR)
Revenue: R$2.8 billion
Chief Executive: Valter Vanzella

It is the union of 5 cooperatives that operate centrally in the pork and dairy chains, formed by Primato, Copagril, Lar, C.Vale, and Copacol, which remain with their independent structures. At Frimesa, the industrial units deliver meat cuts ready for consumption, such as bacon, hamburgers, breaded meat, and sausages. The cold cuts include hams, tripe, and salami; and in dairy products, besides fluid and condensed milk, there are cheeses, butter, yogurt, chocolate milk, and desserts. There are 4 industries in Paraná and one in Santa Catarina, with products for retail, food service, and export.

48. ITAMBÉ ALIMENTOS
Industry: Dairy products
Founded: 1948, in Belo Horizonte (MG)
Revenue: R$2.7 billion
Chief Executive: Alexandre Almeida

Founded with support from the Minas Gerais state government, Itambé comprises 31 member cooperatives. It employs 3,500 direct workers in five plants, with the capacity to process 3 million liters of milk per day from 5,000 suppliers. It has a portfolio of about 160 products, including pasteurized and long-life milk, yogurts and dairy drinks, cheese, and butter. In 2019, after a two-year legal dispute, the Mexican group Lala and the French Lactalis, owners of global brands such as Parmalat, Galbani, and Président, entered into an agreement, and the French acquired all of Itambé’s shares in Brazil.

49. GRANOL
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1965, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$2.7 billion
Chief Executive: José Gomes Cadette

Granol started its activities as a service provider of international trade, tax and financial consulting, and domestic and ocean freight forwarding. Today, it is a soybean processing company dedicated to the production of soybean meal, oil, biodiesel, and glycerin. The company has 11 production units. There are 5 factories, with a crushing capacity of 3.4 million tons of soybean per year; 3 biodiesel plants, with a processing capacity of 1.07 million cubic meters per year; 2 glycerin plants; a lecithin plant; and 24 storage units with a capacity for 925.500 tons of grains. It has 1,800 employees and 13,000 suppliers.

50. COOPAVEL
Sector: Cooperatives
Foundation: 1970, in Cascavel (Paraná State)
Revenue: R$ 2.7 billion
Chief Executive: Dilvo Grolli

Founded by 42 farmers from western Paraná to simplify the production and commercialization of grains, Coopavel is one of the largest producers of chicken and chicken products. It has 26 branches installed in 17 cities of western and southwestern Paraná. It comprises over 5,370 associates and employs 5,550 direct workers. The industrial activities contribute for 75% of this revenue, with products sold throughout the country and abroad, to countries like The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Canary Islands, England, Uruguay, Chile, Aruba, South Africa, Croatia, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Japan, China, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Romania, and Macedonia.

51. OLEOPLAN
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1979, in Veraneio (RS)
Revenue: R$ 2.7 billion
Main executive: Marcos Merlin Boff

Oleoplan started its activities in the late 1970s with the acquisition of a dormant soy processing plant in the southern Brazilian city of Veranópolis. Later, the company advanced along the soybean production chain. It has about 20 branches for grain receipt, with a total storage capacity of more than 500,000 tons. It can process 3,000 tons of soybean per day. The company is Brazil’s second-largest biodiesel producer, with an output capacity of 756 million liters per year. In 2019, the company sold 608 million liters, representing 10.1% of the Brazilian market. In September 2020, it requested authorization from the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) to carry out its IPO.

52. CELULOSE NIPO-BRASILEIRA
Sector: Pulp, wood, and paper
Founded: 1973, in Belo Oriente (MG)
Revenue: R$2.6 billion
Main Executive: Kazuhiko Kamada

Celulose Nipo-Brasileira, better known as Cenibra, was founded in September 1973 in the small town of Belo Oriente, in eastern Minas Gerais, as a partnership between Vale and the Japanese company JPB. In 2001, with Vale already privatized and focusing on the strategic ore business, Cenibra was fully acquired by JPB. In 2019, the company set a new annual production record by reaching 1.22 million tons of bleached hardwood eucalyptus pulp. The yield is 16.7 thousand tons above projections, and about 97% of the production is bound for the foreign market, exported to Japan, the United States, China, and Europe.

53. USINA ALTO ALEGRE
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1978, in Colorado (PR)
Revenue: R$2.6 billion
Chief Executive: José Francisco Malheiro Junqueira Figueiredo

Also known as the Lincoln Junqueira Group, Alto Alegre is a major player in the biofuels market. The group owns 5 mills in the Center-South region of Brazil and has a production profile that focuses more on sugar than on ethanol. Currently, the group has an installed capacity to process 10.8 million tons of sugarcane per harvest, and consequently produce 11.6 million bags of white crystal sugar, 9.2 million bags of VHP sugar, 100,000 bags of demerara sugar, 5.4 million bags of refined amorphous sugar, 140 million liters of hydrous fuel ethanol and 140 million liters of anhydrous fuel ethanol. The group is also active in energy production, having the capacity to cogenerate 418 gigawatts of electricity.

54. UPL INSUMOS AGROPECUÁRIOS
Industry: Fertilizers, inputs, and seeds
Founded: 1969, in Mahardrash (India). In Brazil since 2012
Revenue: R$2.6 billion
Chief Executive: Fábio Torreta

Founded five decades ago as United Phosphorus Limited and dedicated to the manufacture of phosphorus, UPL is the 5th largest agrochemical company in the world, with annual revenues of US$ 5 billion in 2019. It is present in 60 countries on 5 continents. In Brazil, where it came in 2012 by taking control of the subsidiary of the German agrochemical DVA, it expanded its activities in 2019 through the purchase, on a global level, of the American Arysta LifeScience. Now, UPL Brazil’s goal is to reach a turnover of US$600 million in 5 years, reinforce the performance in crops where it already has a strong presence in the Brazilian market, such as soybeans and corn, and expand the current portfolio to crops in which its participation is still recent, such as sugarcane, rice, coffee, citrus, cotton, and vegetables.

55. SLC AGRICULTURAL
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1977, in Horizontina (RS)
Revenue: R$ 2.6 billion
Chief Executive: Aurélio Pavinato

The SLC Group was founded in 1945 in Horizontina, a small workshop that maintained the tools used by farmers in the region. In 1977, it started the activities of SLC Agrícola, today one of the world’s largest producers of grains and fibers focused on the production of cotton, soybeans, and corn. It was one of the first companies in the sector to have shares traded on the stock exchange. It has 16 production units located in 6 Brazilian states that totaled 448,600 hectares in the 2019/2020 crop year, with 235,400 hectares of soybeans, 125,500 hectares of cotton, and 87,700 hectares of corn.

56. VIGOR ALIMENTOS
Sector: dairy products
Founded: 1917, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$2.47 billion
Main Executive: Luis Gennari

Throughout more than 100 years of history, Vigor has passed through several controllers. It has belonged to the Bertin group, acquired by JBS, and was another company in the Batista conglomerate. The company was dismembered and had its capital opened at B3, but the poor performance of shares led JBS to close the capital 3 years later. In 2017, Vigor tried to buy Itambé, but lost a legal dispute and the mining company maintained the French Lactalis. The fight was only settled 2 years later, in 2019, when the Mexican group Lala took control of Vigor, which owns traditional brands such as Leco, Faixa Azul, and Danúbio.

57. GT FOODS (GONÇALVES & TORTOLA)
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1992, in Maringá (PR)
Revenue: R$2.4 billion
Main Executive: Rafael Tortola

Born in Maringá in 1992 from a poultry slaughterhouse, Frangos Canção, the GT Foods Group grew through acquisitions. The first was Abateouro Maringá, which increased the slaughtering capacity from 1,000 to 10,000 head per day. In 2009, the group bought Gold Frango, a slaughterhouse in Terra Boa (PR) that produced 22,000 birds per day. Two years later it acquired Mister Frango, in Paranavaí (PR), with a slaughtering capacity of 130,000 head per day. Today, the group is formed by 3 feed mills, 2 flour and oil mills, 5 breeding stock units, 11 production stock units, a hatchery, and 4 slaughterhouses. The company employs 10,000 workers and filed for receivership in 2017.

58. COTRIJAL
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1957, in No-Me-Toque (RS)
Revenue: R$2.4 billion
Chief Executive: Nei César Manica

Born as Cooperativa Tritícola de Não-Me-Toque and later renamed Cotrijal, the cooperative is a traditional participant of wheat cultivation in Rio Grande do Sul and one of the largest cooperatives in the state, with 59 business units destined to grain storage and to serve cooperative members, besides 20 stores and 10 supermarkets. Besides wheat-related activities, the cooperative also supports dairy farming in the region.

59. USINA CORURIPE
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1925 in Coruripe (AL)
Revenue: R$2.3 billion
Main executive: Mario Luiz Lorencatto

Founded in the Coruripe region, 120 kilometers from Maceió, the mill started its activities by establishing several mills. In the following decades, it expanded its activities towards the Southeast, especially in the Triângulo Mineiro. It has five industrial units and a road-rail cargo terminal. The company has a crushing capacity of 14.4 million tons of sugarcane and can produce 470 million liters of ethanol, 20 million bags of sugar, and 680 gigawatts of energy. The mill employs 9,400 workers.

60. EISA INTERAGRÍCOLA (ECOM)
Sector: Trading
Founded: 1849, in Catalunya (Spain). In Brazil since 1935
Revenue: R$ 2.2 billion
Chief Executive: Juan Esteve

Founded in the mid-19th century as a cotton trading company in southern Spain, Ecom entered the coffee business 100 years after its foundation. After 140 years, in 1991, it began trading cocoa. Today, the company is one of the leaders in the international coffee market.

61. ZILOR
Industry: Bioenergy
Founded: 1946, in Macatuba (SP)
Revenue: R$2.2 billion
Main executive: Fabiano José Zillo

It started its activities as a sugar and alcohol mill in the mid-1940s and remained in this business segment for 50 years. However, in the 1990s, the company began to diversify its activities, moving into cogeneration of electricity and expanding its operations internationally, acquiring companies in the United States and Norway.

62. PRIMA FOODS
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1949, in Araguari (Minas Gerais state)
Revenue: R$2.1 billion
Main executive: José Augusto de Carvalho Junior

Prima Foods is the new name of Mataboi Alimentos, a meatpacking plant founded in 1949 and that went into receivership in 2017. Mataboi received a capital contribution from businessman José Batista Junior, from the founding family of JBS. The businessman had disengaged from the family holding company J&F in 2013, selling his shares to his brothers and father, and intended to run for governor of Goiás in 2014. He kept his investment company, JBJ, which included farms dedicated to beef cattle and genetic improvement, as well as a real estate portfolio. In March 2020, Prima announced its intention to go public on B3, but the project was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

63. PIF PAF ALIMENTOS
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1968, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Revenue: R$2.1 billion
Chief Executive: Paulo Andrade

Pif Paf was founded in 1968 when businessman Avelino Costa bought a slaughterhouse in Rio. Four years later, the company had already established partnerships with farms and cooperatives in Minas Gerais, where it eventually moved. Currently, the company has 10 industrial units, producing 22,000 tons of finished products per month, including poultry and pork cuts, sausages, and pasta. There are 11 distribution centers, 400 aggregate distribution vehicles, and 195,000 deliveries per month.

64. ALIANÇA AGRÍCOLA DO CERRADO
Sector: trading
Founded: 1994, in Luxembourg. In Brazil since 2010
Revenue: R$ 2.0 billion
Chief Executive: Flávio Gilberto de Sousa

Aliança Agrícola do Cerrado operates in the wholesale of grains and legumes. It is a subsidiary of the Sodrugestvo group, founded in 1994 in Luxembourg. It was established in Brazil in May 2010, in Uberlândia. The company was created from a group of European investors and is dedicated to the marketing of agricultural inputs and commodities.

65. AFG BRASIL
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 2002, in Cuiabá (MT)
Revenue: R$ 2.0 billion
Chief Executive: Guilherme Alves

Dedicated to soybean logistics and trading. In the first years, it served only the domestic market but started exporting in 2013. Currently, it has warehouses and 2 ports for exclusive use. The Capuaba port, located in Vitória (ES), has a draught of 10.88 meters and a static storage capacity of 90,000 tons. The port of Imbituba (SC) has a draught of 13.50 meters and a static storage capacity of 140 thousand tons and can export 1.6 million tons of soybeans. In 2020, the company had to resort to judicial reorganization to cope with the increase in indebtedness due to the depreciation of the real against the dollar.

66. COASUL
Sector: Cooperatives
Founded: 1969, in São João (PR)
Revenue: R$ 2.0 billion
Main executive: Paulino Capelin Fachin

Comprises 10,300 cooperative members and about 3,000 employees. In 2019, the cooperative received 11.8 million bags of grain, of which 6.7 million bags of soy, 3.6 million bags of corn, and 1.5 million bags of wheat. In addition to processing the production of cooperative members, Coasul produces feed and operates a poultry slaughterhouse. In 2019, it exported R$265 million. The cooperative maintains its own infrastructure for receiving, drying, and storing cereals, and its establishments are distributed in 43 units among warehouses, stores, and supermarkets.

67. USINA SANTA TEREZINHA
Industry: Bioenergy
Founded: 1961, in Iguatemi (PR)
Revenue: R$1.91 billion
Main executive: n/a

Founded in northern Paraná, Santa Terezinha was founded by 7 brothers of the Meneguetti family. With the end of Proálcool, in the mid-1980s, the group took advantage of the sector’s crisis to grow through acquisitions. The process continued, and today the company has 8 units, in addition to grain and sugar warehouses, a lime terminal, fertilizer mixing plant, and fuel storage tanks. The company built a fertilizer road-rail terminal in Paranaguá, which began operating in 2003. In 2019, Santa Terezinha went into receivership.

68. FRIGOL
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1970, in Lençóis Paulista (SP)
Revenue: R$1.9 billion
Main executive: Marcos Câmara

Industrializes beef and pork. Its 5 production units in São Paulo, Goiás and Pará employ 2,800 people. In 2019, the company processed about 130,000 tons of pork and beef. In addition to traditional meat cuts under the Frigol brand, it also sells special barbecue products, with the BBQ Secrets and Grand Chef lines, and hamburgers. About 36% of Frigol’s production is exported to 60 countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, China, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Georgia and Israel.

69. COTRISAL
Sector: Cooperatives
Foundation: 1953, in Sarandi (RS)
Revenue: R$ 1.9 billion
Chief Executive: Walter Vontobel

The Cooperativa Tritícola de Sarandi was founded in 1953 by farmers from the north of Rio Grande do Sul who were dedicated to wheat production. Currently, Cotrisal has 10,066 members who are dedicated to the production of soy, corn, and wheat. Among them, 800 also invest in dairy farming. In 2019, Cotrisal expanded its area of operation to the northwest region of the state, becoming the largest agricultural cooperative in Rio Grande do Sul. Cotrisal employs 1,400 workers and has the capacity to store 16 million bags of grain in 41 receiving units. The cooperative operates 29 stores and 17 supermarkets, besides owning a wheat mill, a feed mill and a seed processing unit.

70. BRENCO Companhia Brasileira de Energia Renovável
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 2008, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$1.9 billion
Chief Executive: n/a

A subsidiary of Atvos Agroindustrial, Brenco, or Companhia Brasileira de Energia Renovável, has an installed crushing capacity of 15.2 million tons of sugarcane per year. In the 2018/2019 harvest, 11.1 million tons were processed, a 3.7% growth over the previous harvest. Brenco emerged as an independent company in 2008 through the association of investors led by Henry Philippe Reichstul, former president of Petrobras, but in 2010 it joined ETH Bioenergia, a subsidiary of Odebrecht. Following the contractor’s crisis caused by Operation Lava Jato, Atvos went into receivership.

71. PEDRA AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: bioenergy
Founded: 1931, in Serrana (SP)
Revenue: R$1.8 billion
Main executive: Pedro Biagi Neto

Pedra Agroindustrial is associated with Copersucar and preserves its production autonomy while being present in the entire sugar and bioenergy business chain. Its main activity is the production of ethanol, sugar, and electric energy from sugarcane. It employs 4,500 people, has 129,000 hectares of cultivated agricultural area, and 3 production units, all in the state of São Paulo: Usina da Pedra, in Serrana; Usina Buriti, in Buritizal, and Usina Ipê, in Nova Independência. The total crushing capacity is 11 million tons of sugarcane, producing 7 million bags of sugar and 674 million liters of ethanol. It also has the capacity to generate 700 gigawatts.

72. J. MACÊDO
Industry: Mills and pasta
Founded: 1939, in Fortaleza (CE)
Revenue: R$1.8 billion
Main executive: José Honório Tofoli

It began as an auto parts sales representative company in 1939, and started its activities in the milling and pasta sector in the 1950s, by importing wheat from the United States. Currently, the company has 3 factories and 3 mills, employs 3,600 people in direct and indirect jobs, and is the leader in the domestic wheat flour and cake mix categories, besides being the second largest national company in the pasta segment and the leading manufacturer in wheat flour sales. Its operation is totally verticalized. It owns brands such as Dona Benta, Sol, and Petybon.

73. ADECOAGRO BRASIL
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 2002, in Argentina. In Brazil since 2004
Revenue: R$1.82 billion
Chief Executive: Renato Junqueira Santos Pereira

Of Argentinian origin, the group founded in 2002 and which is also present in Uruguay is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It came to Brazil 2 years later, buying land. The first sugarcane mill came in 2005, in Minas Gerais. Today, present also in Mato Grosso do Sul, cultivation covers 180,000 hectares, with 11 million tons milled last year. In Argentina and Uruguay, Adecoagro has a large operation in the dairy and grain chains. The same spirit is driving the group to produce sugar for the international market. Industry experts say that the market fundamentals have not changed with the novel coronavirus pandemic and that there is a global sugar deficit estimated between 7 – 11 million tons.

74. BERNECK
Industry: Pulp, wood, and paper
Founded: 1952, in Bituruna (PR)
Revenue: R$ 1.81 billion
Main executive: Gilson Mueller Berneck

Specialized in the production of panels and sawn timber, the company, which has been in the market for more than half a century, operates exclusively in the planted forest chain. All the products used as raw material for the furniture, construction, automotive, electro-electronics, and shipbuilding sectors, among others, come from management areas aimed at industrial use. The forestry division covers 64,500 hectares of land in Paraná and Santa Catarina for the cultivation of pine varieties. Every year 7 million trees are planted. Another 66,000 hectares are maintained as native reserves. In total, the company maintains 132,000 hectares of land, including teak plantation areas in Mato Grosso do Sul. The processing, in 3 industrial units, represents about 1.2 million cubic meters of wood products per year.

75. DELTA SUCROENERGIA
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1953, in Delta (Minas Gerais)
Revenue: R$1.75 billion
Chief Executive: Robert Carlos Lyra

With three sugarcane mills in municipalities located in the Triângulo Mineiro, Delta Sucroenergia generates about 12,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region. The company’s president, Robert Carlos Lyra, is the son of Alagoas senator and industrialist Carlos Lyra, who died in 2017. The heir’s business, who founded his company in Minas Gerais, is focused on sugar for export and with its own brand for the domestic market. He also produces ethanol and electricity from bagasse and dried yeast, a valuable byproduct in the diet of cattle, pigs, poultry, and goats. There are about 160,000 hectares of sugarcane cultivation, with 11 million tons processed. The company also maintains 7,000 hectares as forest reserves.

76. SJC BIOENERGIA
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 2011, in Quirinópolis (state of Goiás)
Revenue: R$1.75 billion
Chief Executive: Abel de Miranda Uchôa

SJC Bioenergia was born as a joint venture between the American multinational Cargill and the Usina São João group, a company founded in 1944 in the municipality of Araras (SP) and owned by the Ometto family. The partnership has a 50% shared management for each of the partners. The project, with 2 production units in Goiás (one in the municipality of Cachoeira Dourada and the other in Quirinópolis), started with the capacity to process 3 million tons of sugarcane. Today it totals 11 million tons per harvest. In the closed harvest (2019/2020), production reached 600 million liters of ethanol and 300,000 tons of sugar. In electric energy cogeneration, production stands at 650,000 MWh per year.

77. COPAGRIL
Sector: Cooperatives
Foundation: 1970, in Cândido Rondon (PR)
Revenue: R$ 1.74 billion
Chief Executive: Ricardo Sílvio Chapla

From 29 founding members, half a century later, Paraná’s Copagril has 5,400 members. Dedicated to supporting the raising and processing of poultry, swine, milk, and fish, its structure includes a slaughterhouse, 2 feed mills, a breeder and fertile egg unit, 22 stores, 17 grain receiving units, of which 14 are warehouses, plus supermarkets, gas stations, machine and implement stores, distribution centers, a transporter, and an experimental station. Besides Paraná, Copagril has had a strong presence in Mato Grosso do Sul since 2009. Exports are also in the cooperative’s focus. In 2011, it achieved the British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification for poultry, an important step in the international recognition of its slaughter structure.

78. OLFAR
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1988, in Erechim (RS)
Revenue: R$1.67 billion
Main executive: José Carlos Weschenfelder

Olfar, the largest company of its kind in the Upper Uruguay region of Rio Grande do Sul, started as a family business to serve small producers in the region and currently serves 11,000 farmers. It produces 378 million liters of biodiesel annually, refines 54,000 tons of glycerin, and crushes an average of 720,000 tons of soybeans. Besides the grain, the raw material also comes from recovered vegetable oil (RVO) and animal fat. There are 2 units, one in Erechim (RS) and another in Porto Real (RJ). The most recent investment is underway in the state of Goiás, in Porangatu, in the construction of another plant. Of the total of R$250 million planned for the industrial park, R$90 million have already been invested to place the unit into operation.

79. USINA COLOMBO
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1979, in Ariranha (SP)
Revenue: R$1.65 billion
Main executive: Sérgio Augusto Colombo

The company started as a family-owned sugar mill, founded in the 1940s, and went on to establish itself as a sugar-producing group. It has two mills and a strong commercial brand in retail: Açúcar Caravelas for diversified products, such as demerara, among others. But it has also maintained the Colombo brand. In the 2019/2020 harvest, the company beat its historical record. It crushed 8.9 million tons of sugarcane. In addition, in terms of energy cogeneration, the export capacity to the grid is about 505 MWh. This year, the company underwent a major change in its organization, separating operations such as land, production, and power, aiming to go public with an initial public offering (IPO) within 5 years.

80. SÃO SALVADOR ALIMENTOS
Industry: Animal protein
Founded: 1973, in Itaberaí (state of Goiás)
Revenue: R$1.58 billion
Main executive: José Carlos Garrote de Souza

São Salvador Alimentos, which was born from a small chicken farm, owns 2 brands: SuperFrango and Boua. The first one trades meat in several forms, among frozen and semi-ready dishes, from the production, cutting, and distribution of poultry. The other serves products divided into categories, such as frozen vegetables, dairy products, sausages, smoked meat, hamburgers, pork cuts, and fish. Besides industrialization, the company maintains fertile egg production units, breeding stock, animal feed, and grain warehouses. It operates in the domestic market and exports to 65 countries in Africa, Central America, Europe, and Asia, focusing on the Chinese demand. The daily slaughter of poultry stands at about 350,000, intending to exceed 500,000 after recent investments projected at R$ 455 million.

81. EUCATEX
Sector: pulp, wood, and paper
Founded: 1951, in São Paulo (SP)
Revenue: R$1.56 billion
Main Executive: Flávio Maluf

The group exports to 40 countries, in addition to operating in the domestic market, with 6 mills located in Botucatu and Salto (SP) and Cabo de Santo Agostinho (PE). It processes products ranging from planted eucalyptus forests, products such as flooring, partitions, doors, panels, wood fiber sheets, and paints and varnishes. The forests cover an area of about 52,500 hectares, spread over 82 farms, including owned, leased, and partner farms. From this area comes 1 million cubic meters of processed wood per year. The certifications range from forest and environmental management to specific ones, among them the California Air Resources Board (CARB), required by countries like the United States and Canada.

82. ALIBEM ALIMENTOS
Industry: Animal protein
Founded: 2000, in Santo Ângelo (RS)
Revenue: R$1.52 billion
Main Executive: José Roberto Goulart

Alibem processes pork and beef in 2 industrial units, in addition to distributing fish and potatoes. In the case of pigs, breeding occurs in Rio Grande do Sul, totally in-house and verticalized, with 800 small producers in an integrated system. Besides the domestic market, the company exports to about 40 countries. The beef unit is located in Rondonópolis (MT) and also exports. It is part of the group of 37 slaughterhouses in the country qualified to export to China. Its most recent investment is in honey processing. With R$ 5 million spent in a processing industry, Alibem will receive honey from 54 municipalities in the Porto Mauá (RS) region, with full production destined to Europe and Asia.

83. MOINHO IGUAÇU
Sector: mills and pasta
Foundation: 1949, in São Miguel do Iguaçu (PR)
Revenue: R$ 1.51 billion
Chief Executive: Wanda Inês Riedi

At the beginning of this year, the I.Riedi group, a company from Paraná that has been operating for nearly 60 years in the sector of grains and cereals, supplies, seeds, and trade in products, transportation, consortiums, and insurance, acquired most of the assets of Moinho Iguaçu, which belonged to the founding Cavalca group. As a result, it has become one of the largest cereal producers in Paraná. The deal with undisclosed value involved 18 grain receiving and input distribution units, 11 owned and 7 rented. The package includes the brands Moinho Iguaçu and Sementes Amizade. Headquartered in Cascavel (PR), the I.Riedi group operates in 90 municipalities, including Mato Grosso do Sul. Production exceeds 2.5 million tons of soy, corn, and wheat, harvested on about 500,000 hectares.

84. VERACEL CELULOSE
Industry: Pulp, wood and paper
Founded: 1991, in Eunápolis (Bahia)
Revenue: R$1.47 billion
Main Executive: Andreas Birmoser

The multinational company Veracel is the result of a merger between the Brazilian Suzano and the Finnish Stora Enso. Located in southern Bahia, the company operates in 11 municipalities, in an area of 223,800 hectares. Of this total, 87,900 are commercial eucalyptus forests. Average annual production is 1.2 million tons of pulp. From 2015 to 2019, 15 million tons were produced, most of which is exported. With competitor Suzano, which also operates in the region, Veracel entered into an unprecedented partnership earlier this year. They created the Bamges Biodiversity Monitoring Program (the acronym for the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo). The companies will work on the preservation of a territory of about 900,000 hectares.

85. VIBRA AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1934, in Montenegro (RS)
Revenue: R$1.45 billion
Main executive: Gerson Luís Müller

Vibra, consisting of 14 units in the states of Paraná, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, where it was founded, operates in the verticalized poultry production chain. There are 150 products, including cuts and processed products, aimed at the domestic market under the Nat and Avia brands, and another 50 countries to which it exports. Earlier this year, the family group sold its 40% stake in the company’s food division to the American Tyson Foods. For the American company, which used to export only from its country, Vibra Agroindustrial means diversity to operate in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Since 1997, the company controlled by the families that founded Frangosul was a partner of Cobb, a subsidiary of Tyson in the poultry genetics segment.

86. FRISA
Sector: animal protein
Founded: 1968, in Colatina (ES)
Revenue: R$1.38 billion
Main executive: Arthur Arpini Coutinho

Frigorífico Rio Doce, or Frisa, which exclusively slaughters cattle, has units in Colatina (ES), where the headquarters is located, besides Nanuque (MG), Teixeira de Freitas (BA) and a Distribution Center in Niterói (RJ). The slaughter capacity is 1,600 cattle per day, with a mix of about 100 cuts packaged for consumption and sale to food services. Besides the domestic market, the company exports to about 60 countries, including China and the USA. Frisa was one of the first industries to export meat from Brazil to Greece, in the 1970s. The company is still in the hands of its founders, after a purchase intention process by Minerva Foods, undone in November this year.

87. BRIAN RICE
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1944, in Orlândia (SP)
Revenue: R$1.27 billion
Chief Executive: Eduardo Define

With national capital, the company started as a cereal company – it was the first in the country to package rice and place the product directly in supermarkets. It diversified and included other products in its portfolio, such as soybeans (seeds, protein, bran, and flour), as well as vegetable oils and fats. It also started to sell biodiesel in 2011, with the Social Fuel Seal, aimed at producers who promote family farming. Today Brejeiro has three soybean crushing units (1 in the interior of São Paulo and 2 in Goiás), 3 seed processing plants (in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás), 2 rice processing plants in Rio Grande do Sul and 10 warehouses to receive the products directly from the partner farmers.

88. PAMPLONA ALIMENTOS
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 1948, in Agronômica (SC)
Revenue: R$1.25 billion
Main executive: Irani Pamplona Peters

The company that started as a butcher shop today slaughters and sells pork for the domestic market and also for export. In the domestic market, the products are destined for food service, retail, and company-owned stores. In exports, started in 1996, the major client in recent years has been China. There are 2 slaughterhouses for pork, with more than 100 preparations, including cured meats, sausages, ham, sliced meats, smoked meats, lard, salted meats, and frozen cuts in-natura. Lines were also developed for cuts, several flavors, and beef was incorporated in the portfolio, also in several products for retail and foodservice. Focusing on diversity, the most recent investment, around R$100 million, was in the expansion of one of the plants.

89. JOSAPAR
Sector: grains and oils
Founded: 1922, in Pelotas (RS)
Revenue: R$1.24 billion
Chief Executive: Luciano Adures de Oliveira

With a market value of almost R$400 million in the last 12 months, Joaquim Oliveira Participações, a company from Rio Grande do Sul, has as its main flagship the Tio João rice brand, the best known in Brazilian retail. Besides rice, the company also produces, industrializes, researches, and sells beans, soybeans, and olive oil, as well as seeds and fertilizers. Today it has a portfolio that includes brands such as Meu Biju, SupraSoy, and SoyMais. Besides being one of the largest retail suppliers in its segment, it exports to about 50 countries. A pioneer in several product launches, last year Josapar innovated: it developed and launched the first e-commerce channel for rice in Brazil.

90. EMBARÉ INDUSTRIAS ALIMENTARES
Sector: dairy products
Founded: 1935, in Taubaté (SP)
Revenue: R$1.22 billion
Chief Executive: Alexandre Antunes

The virtually homemade production of milk and fruit jams, jellies, and vegetable soups was the beginning of a complex that later incorporated butter, milk, and caramels. Embaré long-life milk emerged only in 2011, after heavy investment in the dairy. After that came products such as zero-lactose milk, cream, cottage cheese, dairy drinks, and cheeses. Embaré has become one of the largest companies in the dairy segment in the country. Its daily processing capacity is around 2.8 million liters of milk in-natura, and the main unit is in Lagoa da Prata (MG). About 2,000 cattle farmers deliver their production. To maintain the partnership, the company maintains several incentive programs, including genetic improvement, rearing of females, training, and purchase of supplies.

91. FERTILIZANTES HERINGER
Industry: Fertilizers, inputs, and seeds
Founded: 1968, in Manhuaçu (MG)
Revenue: R$1.21 billion
Main executive: Dalton Carlos Heringer

Headquartered in Espírito Santo, Heringer has 19 fertilizer production, sales, and distribution units. It is among the largest in the sector. A family-owned company, in 2007 it went public in the Novo Mercado of the BM&FBovespa, today B3. The company grew along with the agribusiness. It went from a basic fertilizer mixer, the NPK, to a complex of special and formulated fertilizers. The company has 3 own research centers, one for coffee, another for pastures, and a third for the development of new agricultural techniques, where a series of events take place aiming at the diffusion of knowledge. It also owns a laboratory in Paulínia (SP), with a capacity of around 900 chemical analyses per day, among primary and secondary macronutrients and micronutrients.

92. CERRADINHO
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1973, in Catanduva (SP)
Revenue: R$1.21 billion
Chief Executive: Luciano Sanches Fernandes

Cerradinho, a holding company owned by the Sanches Fernandes family, operates in the bioenergy sector, as its main activity. Its raw materials are sugarcane and corn. In the 2019/2020 cane harvest, the company set a record in crushing: 5.2 million tons, 9.3% above the previous harvest. Production totaled 430 million liters of ethanol and 458,700 MWh of energy generated for the grid. In corn milling, a new activity in the group, 571,000 tons of grain were processed, another record compared to the previous year with 170,000 tons of grain. Production totaled 243 million liters of ethanol, 172 thousand tons of DDG, a co-product destined to animal feed, plus 7,000 tons of oil.

93. GRUPO BAZAN
Industry: Bioenergy
Founded: 1942, in Pontal (SP)
Revenue: R$1.20 billion
Main executive: Angelo José Bazan

Bazan is one of the most traditional groups in the bioenergy sector in the country, with its 2 sugarcane processing plants in the interior of São Paulo state, one in the town of Pontal and the other in Bela Vista. The daily processing capacity is 2 million liters of anhydrous ethanol and 1.72 million liters of hydrous ethanol. The company is part of the group of medium-sized sugar and ethanol mills that, with family administrations, have faced a competitive and unstable market. In 2019, one of the factors that most impacted the group’s positive result, of 4.8% in the year, was the decrease in administrative costs and financial expenses, while maintaining a low level of debt, a goal strictly followed in the company’s history.

94. GRUPO BALBO
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1956, in Sertãozinho (SP)
Revenue: R$1.16 billion
Chief Executive: Luiz Antônio Balbo

With 3 sugarcane mills, it produces ethanol, sugar, and yeast for the domestic and foreign markets. Milling capacity is 7 million tons of cane per harvest. Its best-known brand is Native Organic Sugar, a project thought up in 1987 and that at the time demanded an investment of around US$25 million. The brand was launched in 2000. Today, the line also includes chocolate milk, olive oil, beverages and coffees, cereals, cookies, and pasta. The group has become the largest global producer of organic sugar and alcohol, exporting to about 60 countries. To operate with differentiated products, the company has achieved 21 international certifications, including organic, social responsibility, fair trade, and industrial.

95. MACROFÉRTIL
Industry: Fertilizers, inputs, and seeds
Founded: 1982, in Curitiba (Paraná State)
Revenue: R$1.12 billion
Main executive: n/a

Macrofértil, headquartered in Ponta Grossa (PR), has been owned by French multinational Louis Dreyfus Commodities (LDC) since 2011, remaining a closed joint-stock company. The fertilizer processor and distributor was the path for LDC to enter the operation of industrial assets in this segment. When it was acquired, the company operated in six states and had the capacity to process 1.8 million tons of fertilizers per year. After the acquisition, processing capacity grew to over 2.5 million tons a year, and the scope of activities expanded to 12 states.

96. IPIRANGA AGROINDUSTRIAL
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1945, in Serrana (SP)
Revenue: R$1.10 billion
Main executive: Leopoldo Tittoto

With 3 plants in the interior of São Paulo state, in the cities of Descalvado, Iacanga and Mococa, Ipiranga Agroindustrial has the capacity to grind 6.6 million tons of sugarcane and produce 400 million liters of ethanol, 230,000 tons of sugar, and generate 155,000 MWh of electric power. The company is also part of the group of traditional sugar-alcohol companies managed by the founding families that withstood the takeover trend of multinationals. To meet the market, Ipiranga became a partner of Copersucar, a cooperative that commercializes sugar and ethanol in the country, a giant in the area. Of the global sugar market, Copersucar holds 12% of an estimated 58 million tons per year.

97. BETTER BEEF
Sector: Animal protein
Founded: 2003, in Rancharia (SP)
Revenue: R$1.1 billion
Main executive: n/a

Better Beef was founded in 2003 in Rancharia (SP), where it has its industrial unit. The company also has a chain of meat houses in Rancharia and Presidente Prudente, the largest business center in western São Paulo. In 2019, it was one of the eight slaughterhouses qualified by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), Saudi Arabia’s health regulator, to export meat to the Arab country.

98. USINA SANTA ISABEL
Sector: Bioenergy
Founded: 1977, in Novo Horizonte (SP)
Revenue: R$1.1 billion
Main executive: Alcides Graciano

Usina Santa Isabel was born as a small distillery of brandy, founded by brothers Alcides and Antônio Graciano, small farmers in the municipality of Novo Horizonte. Six years after its foundation, in 1983, Santa Isabel started producing alcohol fuel. Fifteen years later, with the installation of the sugar factory, it started the production of VHP sugar and crystal sugar and, 2 years later, the production of anhydrous alcohol, aiming to increase the demand to be added to gasoline. In 2006 Unit II was inaugurated, installed in the municipality of Mendonça (SP). Currently, the company produces approximately 9 million bags of VHP and crystal sugar per year, which are distributed to the industrial and retail markets in Brazil and 20 other countries.

99. BEM BRASIL ALIMENTOS
Sector: mills and pasta
Founded: 2006, in Araxá (MG)
Revenue: R$ 1.0 billion
Chief Executive: João Emílio Rocheto

The Rocheto family from Minas Gerais started large-scale cultivation of potatoes in the 1940s. In 2006, the idea of developing a factory to pre-process potatoes was put into practice, following international examples. Bem Brasil was the first 100% national potato processing industry. In 2017, the second unit was inaugurated, in Perdizes (MG). The structure processes 250,000 tons per year of frozen pre-fried potatoes and employs 600 people. Currently, in addition to pre-fried and frozen potatoes, the company produces mashed potatoes, onion rings, cassava, polenta, and tilapia fish. The production is destined for retail chains and the foodservice segment.

100. LATICÍNIOS JUSSARA
Industry: Dairy products
Founded: 1954, in Franca (SP)
Revenue: R$ 1.0 billion
Main executive: Odorico Alexandre Barbosa

Laticínios Jussara was founded by physician Amélio Rosa Barbosa and remains under the control and administration of the founding family. The company was one of the first in the state of São Paulo to sell pasteurized milk, back in the 1950s, and to distribute the product in plastic bags, which at the time were cheaper than glass bottles. In 1998, the company inaugurated its unit in Patrocínio Paulista, in western São Paulo. It has 25 milk collection points in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, and Goiás, which receive milk from 4,000 rural producers. Jussara is the leader in the sale of UHT milk, known as long-life, in the state of São Paulo, and 5th in the domestic market