BNDES approved R$1.3bn for Paraná co-operatives
The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) approved R$1.3bn in financing for production co-operatives in Paraná in the first six months of 2026. The figure formed part of R$13.2bn in approvals for the state’s economy across all sectors, up 93% from R$6.84bn in the corresponding period of 2025.
One funded project belongs to Cooperativa Central Aurora Alimentos. BNDES will provide R$50m towards a new refrigeration facility and a continuous freezing tunnel in Castro, Paraná. The overall investment is valued at R$74.52m, and the project is intended to increase the co-operative’s ability to sell higher-value products.
The figures were presented at a meeting at the headquarters of Sistema Ocepar in Curitiba. Aloizio Mercadante, BNDES’s president, attended the event and received a document setting out requests from Paraná’s co-operative sector.
Mercadante described co-operatives as a production model that gives members an ownership stake and requires them to contribute capital and monitor results. “The co-operative is a very advanced production model,” he said. “Especially for small producers, the only way to move forward is often through a co-operative.”
Small, medium-sized and micro-enterprises in Paraná accounted for R$8.3bn of the state’s approved financing, a 130% increase from R$3.6bn a year earlier. Infrastructure projects included R$9.2bn for EPR Iguaçu to carry out work on 662km of roads in the western and south-western parts of the state. EPR Litoral Pioneiro was allocated R$6.3bn for work on a road used by about 42m passengers a year; the project is expected to create approximately 550 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs.
Across Brazil’s southern region, BNDES approvals reached R$36.67bn in the first half, compared with R$19.28bn in the same period of 2025. Infrastructure received R$14.33bn, followed by farming with R$12.57bn, industry with R$5.63bn, and commerce and services with R$4.13bn. Micro, small and medium-sized businesses accounted for R$26.79bn, while the bank’s disbursements in the region reached R$24.43bn, against R$19.77bn a year earlier.
