Full Description

Bunge Limited (Bunge) is a global agribusiness and food company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. The Company is engaged in oilseed processing company, a producer and supplier of fertilizer to farmers in South America, and engaged in selling of packaged vegetable oils. The Company conducts its operations in three divisions: agribusiness, fertilizer and food products. These divisions include four segments: agribusiness, fertilizer, edible oil products and milling products. The Company’s agribusiness division is an integrated business principally involved in the purchase, storage, transport, processing and sale of agricultural commodities and commodity products. Its agribusiness operations and assets are primarily located in North and South America, Europe and China, and it has marketing and distribution offices worldwide.

During the year ended December 31, 2008, it acquired the international sugar trading and marketing division of Tate & Lyle plc (Tate & Lyle), as well as a majority stake in a sugarcane ethanol mill that is under construction in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. In September 2008, Bunge acquired a 60% interest in a Brazilian sugar and ethanol company, Monteverde Agroenergetica SA.

The Company’s fertilizer division is involved in every stage of the fertilizer business, from mining of phosphate-based raw materials to the sale of retail fertilizer products. The activities of its fertilizer division are primarily located in Brazil. Its food products division consists of two business segments: edible oil products and milling products. These segments include businesses that produce and sell food products such as edible oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise and milled products, such as wheat flours and corn-based products. The activities of its food products division are primarily located in North America, Europe, Brazil, China and India.

Agribusiness

The Company’s agribusiness division is an integrated business involved in the purchase, storage, transport, processing and sale of agricultural commodities and commodity products. The principal agricultural commodities that it handles and/or processes are oilseeds and grains, primarily soybeans, rapeseed or canola, sunflower seed, wheat and corn. It processes oilseeds into vegetable oils and protein meals, principally for the food and animal feed industries. In addition to its principal agribusiness operations in oilseeds and grains, it also participates in the sugar and sugarcane-based ethanol industries through its sugar origination, trading and marketing business, as well as its sugarcane milling and ethanol production operations in Brazil.

In this segment the Company competes with The Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill Incorporated, Louis Dreyfus Group, large regional companies, Wilmar International Limited and Noble Group Limited in Asia.

Fertilizer

The Company is a producer and supplier of fertilizer to farmers in South America and a major integrated fertilizer producer in Brazil, participating in all stages of the business, from mining of phosphate-based raw materials to selling of retail blended fertilizers. In the Brazilian retail fertilizer market, it has approximately 25% of the market share of nitrogen, phosphate and potash (NPK) fertilizers. In Brazil, it conducts its fertilizer operations through its wholly owned subsidiaries, primarily Bunge Fertilizantes S.A., as well as through its controlling interest in Fertilizantes Fosfatados S.A.—FOSFERTIL (Fosfertil). Fosfertil is a phosphate and nitrogen producer in Brazil. It also has non-controlling strategic investments in fertilizer producers in Morocco and Brazil.

The Company’s fertilizer production activities consist of nutrients and retail operations. Its nutrients operations include the mining and processing of phosphate ore and the production of intermediate phosphate-based products for sale to fertilizer blenders and cooperatives, as well as to supply its own retail fertilizer production operations. The Company also produces phosphate-based animal feed ingredients in this business. The primary products it produces in its nutrients operations are concentrated phosphate rock, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, single superphosphate (SSP) and dicalcium phosphate. In addition, Fosfertil produces various nitrogen and phosphate-based raw materials and fertilizers, including ammonia, urea, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, monoammonium phosphate (MAP) and triple superphosphate (TSP). Its retail fertilizer operations consist of producing, distributing and selling blended NPK formulas and other fertilizer products directly to retailers, processing and trading companies and farmers, primarily in Brazil, as well as in Argentina and neighbouring countries. These NPK fertilizers are used for the cultivation of a variety of crops, including soybeans, corn, sugarcane, cotton, wheat and coffee.

The Company competes with Copebrás, Fertipar, The Mosaic Company, Adubos Trevo (Yara), Tortuga, Heringer, Petrobras, Repsol YPF, The Mosaic Company and Profertil S.A.

Food Products

The Company’s food products division consists of two business segments: edible oil products and milling products. It primarily sells its products to three customer types or market channels: food processors, foodservice companies and retail outlets. Its edible oil products include packaged and bulk oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise and other products derived from the vegetable oil refining process. The Company’s milling products include a range of wheat flours and bakery mixes sold in Brazil and corn-based products derived from the corn dry milling process sold in North America. Its corn milling products consist primarily of dry milled corn meal, flours and grits, as well as soy-fortified corn meal, corn-soy blend and other similar products. It also produces corn oil and corn animal feed products.

The Company competes with Pena Branca Alimentos, M. Dias Branco, Moinho Pacifico, Moinho Anaconda, Cargill and Didion Milling Company.