Cargill Acquires Full Ownership of ZCHB

08/08/06 Cargill announced today that it has acquired 100% ownership of Zibo Cargill Huanghelong Bioengineering (ZCHB) located in Zibo, China. Cargill bought the shares from its joint venture partner, the Shandong Huanghelong Group. ZCHB was formed in April 2003 to produce xanthan gum and was expanded in 2004. The facility will now be fully integrated into Cargill's Texturing Solutions business as a key component of Cargill's texturizing ingredients portfolio.

"This transaction, together with the acquisition of Degussa Food Ingredients in April 2006, is in line with Cargill's strategy to become one of the top ranking producers of xanthan gum worldwide," said Cargill Corporate Vice President Robert Parmelee, who leads the company's Food System Design businesses. "ZCHB is already one of the most technologically advanced xanthan gum plants in China. With our recently expanded hydrocolloids team, we are now in a position to further improve our Chinese production by transferring some state-of-the-art knowledge from our French facility in Baupte to ZCHB. Our xanthan gum range will now be complete, from industrial to specialty food and cosmetic grades including clear, granulated, dispersible and allergen free. This will complement our overall unmatched texturizing offering, ranging from single ingredients like xanthan gum, pectin, soy proteins and starches to functional texturizing systems, cultures and lecithin."