Verde Is Sold Out for 2018 and Announces 2019 Expansion Plan
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Oct. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verde AgriTech Plc (TSX: “NPK”) (OTCQB: “AMHPF”) ("Verde” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce sales results for 2018 and expansion plans for 2019.
Sales
Verde has received orders that match its total production capacity for 2018. The Company has been operating its plant 24 hours a day and 7 days a week in order to fulfill existing orders for Super Greensand® for the 2018 planting season.
The Company has sold almost 40 thousand tonnes of Super Greensand® this season, this is approximately 10 times what was sold in 2017. In 2018, over 150 farmers have purchased the product, intended for crops including soybeans, corn, sugarcane, coffee, cotton, banana and carrots. The states supplied now include Minas Gerais, Goiás, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso.
In Brasil, Super Greensand® is sold under the brand name of K Forte (the “Product”). Both the Product and Super Greensand® share the same source and are processed identically, sharing equal benefits to soil and plant.
Verde will be producing Super Greensand® until late November, when the planting season ends and the raining season starts. From November to March, Verde will switch to the processing and selling of Alpha (see PR April 20, 2016). Alpha is applied after the crops have started to grow, it is sprayed onto crops’ leaves, from where the plant absorbs its nutrients.
Expansion Plans
In 2019, Verde aims to continue the use of its existing plant to produce 200 thousand tonnes per annum of Product and, in parallel, it will start construction of a new processing facility capable of producing an added 600 thousand tonnes per annum. The total of 800 thousand tonnes per annum capacity is expected to be reached in early 2020. Financing for the expansion is budgeted to be a mix of accumulated cashflow and subsidized-debt from Brazil’s development bank (BNDES).
Verde’s President & CEO, Cristiano Veloso, commented: “Though it pains us to turn away buyers because we have now reached maximum production capacity, we are even more determined to accelerate our expansion and supply an ever greater numbers of Brazilian farmers. Even when Verde achieves 800 thousand tonnes of product a year, we will represent a mere 1.5% of the total Brazilian market for potash and roughly half of the added growth in potash demand of the past years. Our expansions are only just beginning.” |
