After working for 30 years in the agribusiness and logistics areas, executive Elizabeth Chagas, attentive to the development and potential of the Brazilian agribusiness, noted that, to that time, small and medium-sized rural producers did not have at their disposal consulting services to meet their demands in their expertise areas which are import, export and domestic and international logistics.

In July 2007, to fulfill this lack in an important market niche for the Brazilian agribusiness, the EC Consultoria e Assessoria em Comércio Internacional firm, of which Elizabeth Chagas is the managing partner, was created. EC Consultoria puts at the disposal of its clients Elizabeth Chagas’ 20 years of accumulated experience, both in the management of domestic and international purchases and logistics for fertilizers at the Copas (Companhia Paulista de Fertilizantes) company; management of port terminals for 9 years at the Rodrimar Group, and subsequently, the management of the supplies and logistics area of Tortuga, a company operating in the animal feed segment.

EC stands out in the Brazilian market for its activity focus, which is the small and medium-sized rural producers. Now they have assistance for the planning of their activities both for imports as for exports and logistics. These services are available thanks to diagnosis and management tools used in the market where they operate so they are able to anticipate their opportunities with solutions aimed at obtaining efficiency and saving of funds, to maximize their results. Until then, such services were restricted to large producers, who already have these areas formalized and structured in departments of their enterprises.

According to the consultant, the agribusiness business did not show for many years such a promising trend for its future. “Especially in Brazil, it is no secret that our wealth lies in agribusiness, which is also responsible for the success of our trade balance. Every day, when the Chicago Stock Exchange opens, Brazil is among the leaders in four or five of the ten most traded commodities”, she explains.

Aware that Brazil holds a unique position in this scenario, Elizabeth stresses the need for small and medium-sized rural producers to provide their businesses with a professional structure. Accordingly, EC Consultoria believes that its services add strength to the efforts to make Brazil a continually greater and more competitive agricultural country.