Cargill Commits to Supply RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil to Customers by 2015

MINNEAPOLIS, July 12, 2011 -

Cargill has announced that the palm oil products it supplies to
its customers in Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand will be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO) and/or originated from smallholder growers by 2015 (this
excludes palm kernel oil products). This commitment will be
extended across all Cargill’s oil and trading businesses to cover
100 percent of its palm oil products and all customers worldwide -
including China and India - by 2020.

“Cargill is an active supporter of sustainable palm and has been
a member of the RSPO since it was founded. We hope this commitment
will encourage more participation across the supply chain and help
RSPO palm oil become the mainstream,” said Paul Conway, vice
chairman of Cargill. “This goal will help us meet the rising demand
for sustainable palm oil products amongst manufacturers and
retailers, while continuing to encourage palm oil producers to
adopt more sustainable practices.”

Cargill already offers RSPO certified palm oil products to its
customers. Its European, Malaysian, United States and Australian
refineries have received RSPO certification. Its oil palm
plantation at PT Hindoli in Sumatra, Indonesia has also been
certified and smallholder farmers at this location became the first
to be certified under the RSPO’s Smallholder Principles &
Criteria in late 2010. href="www.cargill.com/corporate-responsibility/pov/palm-oil/index.jsp">
The company also has its own policies in place for responsible
palm production on its own plantations including commitments to not
plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); to not develop new
plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten
biodiversity; and a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.

The RSPO Principles & Criteria define the practices for
sustainable palm oil production covering the legal, economic,
environmental and social requirements of producing sustainable palm
oil.  At the end of 2010, 70 percent of Cargill’s total crude
palm oil was purchased from RSPO members and Cargill is encouraging
its external suppliers to join RSPO and attain certification for
all of their palm plantations.

Cargill is continuing to collaborate with the World Wildlife
Fund-U.S. (WWF) to gauge the progress its palm oil suppliers in
Indonesia are making in implementing the RSPO Principles &
Criteria. The process, which began last year, is working with
individual suppliers on key areas such as land permitting, and
environmental and social practices.

“We remain very committed to working with WWF and all our
suppliers to help find ways to implement more sustainable
production practices,” continued Conway. “While this process has
proved to be more complex and taken longer than everyone first
envisioned, we believe this long-term initiative will support
producers to meet the rising demand for more responsible palm
oil.”

In partnership with Fauna and Flora International (FFI), Cargill
is also working in Malaysia and Indonesia to help smallholders
understand  the RSPO criteria.  FFI is also leading an
environmental sustainability assessment of the company’s Malaysia
smallholder supply chain.  Additionally it is working with the
RSPO and Control Union Certification - an RSPO approved
certification body - to provide training to crude palm oil
suppliers in Malaysia.

Notes for editors:

Cargill

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food,
agricultural, financial and industrial products and services.
Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people
in 66 countries.Cargill helps customers succeed through
collaboration and innovation, and is committed to sharing its
global knowledge and experience to help meet economic,
environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.For
more information, visit href="www.cargill.com">www.cargill.com

CONTACT:  

Europe / Africa       Steven
Fairbairn - +44-1932-861174;
                       href="mailto:Steven_Fairbairn@Cargill.com">Steven_Fairbairn@Cargill.com

Asia Pacific        
 Chandramohan-Dharmapalan Nair - +60-3-2246-3104
                     
href="mailto:Chandramohan-Dharmapalan_Nair@cargill.com">Chandramohan-Dharmapalan_Nair@cargill.com

USA        
          Susan
Eich - +1-952-742-6245;
                      
href="mailto:Susan_Eich@cargill.com">Susan_Eich@cargill.com

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