AGRI-Bunge Agrees to Supply Proposed Ethanol Plant in Fulton, Ill.
July 5, 2006 - St. Louis, Missouri - AGRI-Bunge, LLC, a joint venture between AGRI Industries, a farmer-owned cooperative and Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) announced that it has agreed to provide Fulton Ethanol LLC with services to support a proposed ethanol plant to be built in Fulton, Ill.
Under the agreement, AGRI-Bunge would be the exclusive originator of corn for the plant. In a separate agreement, Bunge North America has agreed to market the ethanol and the dried distiller’s grain (DDGs) that would be produced by the facility.
The proposed site would be located on 100 acres just north of U.S. Route 30 near the elevator operated by AGRI-Bunge. The 108-million gallon per year plant would require 40 million bushels of corn from area farmers.
“AGRI-Bunge has strong relationships with local farmers and dealers and we are pleased to be providing another market for their products,” said Tim Gallagher, senior vice president and general manager, Bunge Grain. “We believe that AGRI-Bunge’s experience in grain origination and Bunge’s experience in destination marketing will help Fulton Ethanol LLC move forward with its plan.”
With the agreements, AGRI-Bunge, LLC also becomes an investor in Fulton Ethanol LLC, which was formed to develop the project and solicit funding for its construction. The final investor group and their respective ownership interests have yet to be determined. Currently, Fulton Ethanol LLC includes groups led by area agri-businessmen and brothers Keith and Russell Holesinger; area businessmen and founders of Chadwick Oil, Kay Spiedahl and James Anderson; Global Renewable Energy, a consulting and development company and AGRI-Bunge, LLC.
About Bunge North America
Bunge North America (www.bungenorthamerica.com), the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), is a vertically integrated food and feed ingredient company, supplying raw and processed agricultural commodities and specialized food ingredients to a wide range of customers in the livestock, poultry, food processor, foodservice and bakery industries. With headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, Bunge North America and its subsidiaries operate grain elevators, oilseed processing plants, edible oil refineries and packaging facilities, and corn dry mills in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
About Bunge Limited
Bunge Limited (www.bunge.com) is an integrated, global agribusiness and food company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Founded in 1818 and headquartered in White Plains, New York, Bunge has 22,000 employees and locations in 32 countries. Bunge is the world’s leading oilseed processing company, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America and the world’s leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers.