Cargill suffers loss, changing practices

Family-owned agricultural conglomerate Cargill Inc. “aims to make its supply chains more transparent to shoppers and food-service customers while providing more products made without genetically modified crops or animal drugs,”

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

Cargill, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, is revamping its operations in an effort “to become more profitable and streamline some of its sprawling business lines,” the


Journal


article said.

For the fourth quarter ended May 31, Cargill reported a $51 million net loss, while profits for the year declined 13% to $1.58 billion, the report said. This was the first quarterly loss for the company in 14 years, and the third decrease in annual earnings in four years, the article said.

Cargill “has built its business on acquiring, moving and processing massive amounts of commodities at the lowest cost,” the article noted. CFO Marcel Smits told the


Journal


that adopting “customer-tailored solutions” is “a pretty fundamental change to the way we operate.” (Source:


Wall Street Journal


, Aug. 7, 2015.)