SUSTAINABILITY - Bunge

m e s s a g e from th e ce o sPARTNERSHIPS FORSUSTAINABILITYAfter a period of retraction in 2005-2006, Brazilian agribusinessmade a recovery in 2007, closing the year with a record trade balanceof 50 billion USD, and grain output 9% higher than the previouscrop year, reaching a total of 131.7 million tons, according to theBrazilian Farming and Ranching Confederation (Confederação deAgricultura e Pecuária – CNA). Bunge, which is a fully integratedcompany operating in the food production chain, achieved resultsthat reflected the improvement in the sector overall, but which alsoemerged from the operational and strategic restructuring carriedout in 2006. In 2007, Bunge’s net sales in Brazil, rose 33% over theprior year, from R$ 13.69 billion to R$ 18.18 billion.The year was also marked by consolidation of the sustainable management of our operations, achieved bybetter balancing among our branches of activity, cost-cutting, and efficiency improvements, and most ofall, by fostering strategic partnerships with civil society organizations, farmers, employees, customers, andother companies with sustainability as a priority.Bunge believes that a transparent relationship with our stakeholders, sharing experiences, and creatingalliances is the surest path to ensuring that our production activities achieve their ultimate objective ofgenerating value for shareholders and society.A number of initiatives carried out in 2007 testify to the increased importance of engagement withBunge’s strategic partners in our day-to-day operations.The Bunge Sustainability Workshop and the Social Responsibility Forum, for example, brought togetherfarmers, civil entities, the government, and customers to discuss challenges and solutions for those involvedin agribusiness to work together for the sustainable development of the country. We also held the FourthDestaque Bunge Agricultor Brasileiro (Distinguished Bunge Brazilian Farmer Award), the Second Copa Bungede Panificação (Bunge Breadmaking Cup), and continued the 52nd edition of the Fundação Bunge Prize,which enhances the generation of knowledge in agro-energy and anthropology/archaeology.We also set up new partnerships united by a common goal: promoting sustainability. One of these isthe Aliança BioCerrado, a collective effort between the private sector and nongovernmental organizationsto establish a program of coordinated conservation activities in the Cerrado, a biome of high value forbiodiversity, farming, and ranching.The issue of deforestation, particularly in the Amazon, is also one of Bunge’s main concerns. Thus,we celebrated the achievements of one year of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, an agreement signed in2006 by a number of companies, including Bunge, in which we agreed not to purchase soybeans plantedin newly deforested areas in this biome for two years. Among the results achieved through this agreementwas the absence of soy planted in newly deforested areas in the Amazon biome during the 2007/2008 crop | Bunge | Sustainability Report