Producers from 16 states can renegotiate rural credit

Producers from 16 states affected by climate events or falling agricultural prices can request renegotiation of their rural credit debts until May 31st. The authorization was announced by the National Monetary Council (CMN), on Thursday (28). The new rule applies to family, medium and other rural producers.

With the change in the standard for debt renegotiation, financial institutions will be able to review, according to their own criteria, up to 100% of the principal value of installments due between January 2nd and December 30th of this year. To do so, the credit lines must have been contracted by December 30 of last year.

According to a note from the Ministry of Finance, the measure aims to mitigate the adverse effects generated by unstable weather in the country’s main producing regions during the 2023/2024 harvest. The most affected crops were soybeans and corn, which had their productivity reduced in specific areas of the South, Central-West regions and the state of São Paulo.

Producers affected by the drop in the sales values ​​of soybeans, corn, meat and milk and the scarcity of certain inputs are also covered by the measure.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), even though there has been a drop in the prices of some agricultural inputs, the values ​​of these products have not yet returned to historical levels, keeping production costs high, especially when considering the drop in prices obtained from the sale of agricultural products.

Check the list of productive activities and benefiting states:

• soy, corn and beef cattle: Goiás and Mato Grosso;

• meat and milk cattle farming: Minas Gerais;

• soy, corn and dairy cattle: São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina;

• beef cattle farming: Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Acre, Amapá, Amazonas and Tocantins;

• soy, corn and dairy and meat cattle farming: Mato Grosso do Sul;

• dairy cattle farming: Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

Credit lines covered

The new rule includes rural investment credit lines contracted with controlled resources (equalized resources, mandatory resources and resources from the Constitutional Funds of the Northeast, North and Central-West), which are supported by the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf), National Support Program for Medium Rural Producers (Pronamp) and other rural investment programs of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), and through the rural investment lines of constitutional funds.

The renegotiated installments will be corrected by the contractual financial charges, including in the case of default. However, installments due between March 28 and April 15, 2024 can be adjusted according to the contractual charges for the normal situation, waiving the extra charges due to default. The borrower must pay at least the financial charges scheduled for this year, on the respective installment due dates.

In credit lines with the last installment due in 2024, 2025 or 2026, up to 100% of the principal amount of the 2024 installments can be rescheduled for repayment up to one year after the due date of the last installment scheduled in the current schedule. For operations with the last installment expected after 2026, up to 100% of the principal of the 2024 installments must be added to the outstanding balance and redistributed in the installments due from 2025 onwards.

Renegotiation estimates

The renegotiation covers investment operations whose installments due in 2024 could reach R$20.8 billion in equalized resources, R$6.3 billion in resources from constitutional funds and R$1.1 billion in mandatory resources.

If all installments of operations falling within the criteria of the resolution approved by the CMN are extended, the cost will be R$3.2 billion, distributed between the years 2024 and 2030, half of which will go to family farming and half to corporate farming. The effective cost will be deducted from the amounts to be allocated to equalize rates for the 2024/2025 harvest plans.

Specific rules for Pronaf

The CMN also authorized the renegotiation of debts from Pronaf credit operations with resources from constitutional funds, whose production has been affected by climate change. In these cases, the review can be requested up to 120 days after the payment is due.

The CNM also established that charges for default must be applied to installments overdue for more than 120 days. However, these charges will be linked to constitutional funds, which charge lower interest than other rural credit lines.