As relações contratuais na comercialização antecipada da soja: um estudo com os produtores do município de Toledo, Paraná

Abstract

Soybean has been consolidated as one of the main agricultural products produced in Brazil and in the world in the last decades. The scenario of significant price appreciation in the 2020/2021 harvest has generated uncertainties regarding the governance structures adopted between producers and the agents that buy their production. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the contractual relationships established in the anticipated commercialization of soybean between producers and cooperatives and private companies in the municipality of Toledo - PR. To this end, based on the concepts and assumptions of the New Institutional Economics, with a focus on Transaction Cost Economics, besides Toulemon's Thesis, which relates contracts to crises and confidence, the theoretical outline of this research was structured. Methodologically, a qualitative and quantitative approach was chosen. The study data were collected first with the analysis of five models of anticipated sales contracts, signed between the producers and the companies and cooperatives of the analyzed municipality. In a second stage, 108 questionnaires were applied to the soy producers. The main results indicate that even in a scenario of a significant appreciation of soybean prices, the governance structure was respected and no breaches of contract by producers occurred. However, when observing the significant disparity between the prices adjusted in the advance contracting and the moment of contract settlement, they point out that this mechanism reduced the possibility of higher revenues for producers. Furthermore, it was found that in the anticipated contracts the producers assume all the risks that may happen with the soybean production in cases of unforeseen circumstances and force majeure, even weather conditions, thus making it expensive to break a contract for any reason.