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(AP) - Agribusiness giant Cargill said on Monday
that second-quarter profits jumped 44 percent as it continued to benefit from strong demand for food commodities.

      Cargill said it earned $954 million during the second quarter,
up from $662 million during the same period last year. That brings
its first-half earnings to $1.87 billion, up 61 percent from the
first half of its prior year.

      Cargill is one of the world's largest privately held companies,
and discloses limited quarterly financial information. 

Cargill
makes food ingredients, moves commodities around the world and runs
financial commodities trading businesses, and has 158,000 workers
in 66 countries. Its operations include five feed mills in Vietnam,
chocolate production in Brazil, and a sweetener facility in the
U.K.

      The company said strong demand for agricultural commodities
drove its quarterly profit. For instance, Cargill is one of the
world's largest charterers of dry ocean shipping, and with strong
demand it was able to use more of the capacity of those ships.

      "Today we are moving bigger volumes of commodities, through
more facilities, at higher utilization rates and over longer
distances," said Cargill Chairman and Chief Executive Greg Page in
a statement.

      Cargill said four of its five segments saw an increase in
second-quarter profits. It said the biggest contribution came from
its origination and processing segment, which buys, processes and
distributes agricultural commodities. Cargill's industrial segment
also benefited from global demand for fertilizers.

      Profits also grew in its segments for food ingredients and
agricultural services. Profits in its segment for risk management
and financial trading were "moderately below" last year's
results, the company said.

      "We are very pleased with today's results," Page said.
"Strong fundamentals are driving volume and volatility in global
agriculture today. Cargill is in position to benefit from these
forces because of our past investments, our risk management and our
commitment to creating shared value with customers."
      

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Agribusiness giant Cargill said on Monday
that second-quarter profits jumped 44 percent as it continued to benefit from strong demand for food commodities. It earned $954 million during the second quarter.

Ag demand drives Cargill profits up 44 percent

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