991060 Cargill Posts $150M Profit In First QuarterOctober 20, 1999Minneapolis, MN - Commodity giant Cargill Inc., the largest privately held company in the United States, on Tuesday reported $150 million in earnings for the 1999/2000 first quarter ended August 31, up from $4 million a year ago. The year-ago period saw financial trading losses stemming from the Russian currency devaluation and debt default. “Our financial businesses continued their recovery from a year ago, and our beef, animal nutrition, energy and tropical commodity businesses also got off to a sound start in the new fiscal year,” said Robert Lumpkins, Cargill's vice chairman and chief financial officer. “Nonetheless, our grain and oilseeds handling and processing activities continued to be weighed down by industry overcapacity and by the weak global demand and big supplies that have taken such a toll on agriculture over the past couple of years.” Lumpkins said efforts to promote trade liberalization are essential to enable agricultural and food exports to rebound as Asia and other parts of the world work toward economic recovery. Cargill is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products with some 82,000 employees in 59 countries.
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