Bunge North America to expand crush capacity at Council Bluffs, Iowa Facility
October 23, 2006 - St. Louis, Missouri - Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), announced that it is expanding the crush capacity of its soybean processing plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, by more than 11 million bushels per year. When the expansion is complete by harvest 2008, the facility will have an annual crush capacity of nearly 77 million bushels, the largest in the United States.
“This expansion will allow us to better serve our customers all along our value chain,” said Carl Hausmann, president and CEO of Bunge North America. “We will be purchasing more soybeans from our farmer customers, creating more oil to ensure that we can serve both our food customers and the growing biodiesel industry and producing more soybean meal to meet increasing demand in the western U.S. and Mexico feed markets, as well as Asia through Pacific Northwest exports.”
Bunge’s Council Bluffs facility has ready access to two interstate highways and five rail lines enabling the plant to efficiently ship to both domestic and international markets.
The expansion will also increase the efficiency of the plant by bringing the processing capacity more in balance with the refining capacity.
Construction will be done in two phases with work expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2008.
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.
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