Cargill began in 1865 with a small grain warehouse in the heart of the United States. Today, headquartered in the US State of Minnesota, it remains a privately owned company that operates with some 82,000 employees in 59 countries.

Cargill's businesses provide a significant share of the global demand for agricultural and food products. It brings agricultural products from the farm to the dinner table, provides ingredients to food companies, manages the logistics, inventories and risks, and helps produce such healthful products as vitamin E from soybean distillate, which is a co-product of the oil refining process. The diverse world of Cargill spans from serving farmers in America's Midwest to orange juice processing in Latin America to offering financial instruments worldwide.

It is among the first to bring electronic commerce to the agricultural industry to better serve and link producers and consumers. And it has partnered with leading companies around the world to develop and market such innovations such as corn-based plastic. In 1999, Prepared Foods magazine ranked Cargill 5th among the top 250 global food companies. Its sales that year totalled nearly US$46bn.

In Asia, Cargill has nearly 11,000 employees in 14 countries, with the regional headquarters in Singapore. It produces salt and processes beef in Australia, mills flour in India, grows oil palms in Indonesia and refines palm oil in Malaysia. It operates an animal nutrition program throughout Asia that customizes products and services to fit local needs.

In Japan, Cargill is the first foreign-owned company to be appointed by the courts to help reorganize a bankrupt food company. In Thailand, its Sun Valley chicken processing plant - a model plant with an exemplary safety record and environmental practices - doubled the number of its employees in the last few years while many Thai companies cut back as a result of the country's financial crisis. In Australia, Cargill is partnering with others to bring greater efficiency and lower costs to the grain handling system.

Throughout the region and elsewhere in the world, Cargill helps its customers succeed by bringing its global expertise to local solutions.

IMore information on Cargill can be obtained through Cargill's website @ www.cargill.com.au

Go Back to Sydney 2000 Sponsors