Judicial recovery in agriculture breaks record in 2024

The number of requests for judicial recovery in Brazilian agribusiness broke a record in 2024, according to data from Serasa Experian. Throughout the year, the sector registered 1.272 requests, more than double the total in 2023, which was 534. The survey includes rural producers acting as individuals and legal entities, in addition to companies related to agriculture.

The growth in orders reflects challenges faced by producers, such as high interest rates, rising agricultural input costs and the impacts of adverse weather conditions. “The most leveraged producers felt the effects of inflation and currency devaluation strongly, which compromised their ability to pay their debts,” explains Marcelo Pimenta, head of agribusiness at Serasa Experian.

Increase also in the last quarter

The quarterly analysis also showed an increase. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 320 requests for judicial recovery were registered in the sector, compared to 254 in the third quarter. The increase reinforces the estimate that there was a backlog of requests in the previous period.

“Despite the significant increase, it is important to contextualize that, between 2023 and 2024, around 1,4 million producers took out rural credit. The volume of recovery requests still represents a small fraction of this total,” Pimenta ponders.

Individual producers lead orders

Among the 1.272 requests for judicial recovery in agriculture in 2024, 566 were from producers acting as individuals, a significant jump in relation to the 127 registered in 2023. Between the third and fourth quarters of last year alone, the increase was 32,1%.

Producers acting as legal entities totaled 409 requests, compared to 162 in 2023. The business segment of the agricultural sector also registered an increase, totaling 297 requests throughout the year, compared to 245 in the previous period.

The states with the highest volume of requests were Mato Grosso and Goiás, both among individual producers and among companies. In the breakdown by sector, soybean cultivation led the requests, followed by cattle raising and cereal cultivation.