Cargill: A Century-and-a-Half Story!

With a history of 150 years, Cargill is a family company that began in 1865 in America with the first grain storage facility of William Wallace Cargill. Today, the company has become an international business engaged in production and trade in food, agriculture, finance and industrial sectors.

Cargill is an international company engaged in production and trade in food, agriculture, finance and industrial products. However, Cargill's rise to where it is today was not easy.

In 1909, Cargill's founder W.W. Cargill left the world, leaving behind a small business empire that was heavily indebted and had grown very quickly. His son-in-law John MacMillan restructured the company in line with the needs of its bankers and customers. The new leader of Cargill acted quickly. Within six years, it paid off its debts and Cargill entered a growth phase.

Cargill continued to grow and opened offices in Canada, the Netherlands and Argentina.

In the 1950s, Cargill emerged as an agricultural producer with an international sales portfolio and as a major international processor of other commodities. Its global initiatives in grain and oilseed exports also began around this time.

On the 125th anniversary in 1990, Cargill and its affiliates had approximately 55,000 employees in 57 countries.

Today, Cargill has 152,000 employees in 67 countries.

Cargill began its activities in Turkey in 1960 with a local partnership and continued operating under the name Cargill in 1986. Today, with more than 280 employees, it operates in the provinces of Istanbul, Bursa, Adana and Ankara.

Cargill Gıda Türkiye (Cargill Food Turkey) supplies products as a supplier to many areas of the food sector through its Bursa-Orhangazi factory. The natural starch found in corn is separated at Cargill's corn processing plant, and production of starch and starch-based sugars, mainly glucose and fructose syrups, is carried out. Natural starches are used for thickening, gel formation, water retention or viscosity adjustment in many food applications, while glucose syrups are used in confectionery, biscuits, bakery products, processed ready foods, jams, halva, ice cream and many Turkish desserts. Fructose syrups are used as a sugar substitute in the soft drink industry.

Cargill operates in Turkey in the following areas:

Production and sale of starch and starch-based products

Grain and oilseed trade

Industrial product trade

Finance

Cargill Turkey Chronological Activity Timeline:

1960 – Established a local partnership with Bramer Ticaret A.Ş.

1986 – Started a partnership with Yaşar Holding in the seed sector.

1987 – Acquired the Vaniköy Corn Milling factory.

1991 – Took over the 50% stake held by Yaşar Holding in the seed company.

1992 – Opened its Istanbul headquarters.

1994 – Opened the Cargill-Financial Market Group Turkey office and began finance and risk assessment activities.

1995 – Acquired a hazelnut processing plant in Adapazarı.

1997 – Moved into iron and steel trading. Construction began on the Corn Processing Plant in Bursa-Orhangazi.

1998 – The seed company was sold to Monsanto under an agreement Cargill made worldwide, withdrawing from seed activities in Turkey.

1999 – Started grain storage silo and port activities in Yarımca, Kocaeli, in partnership with Rota Denizcilik ve Ticaret A.Ş.

2000 – The Orhangazi Corn Processing Plant was completed and began production.

2001 – Through a worldwide agreement, Cargill acquired Purina (excluding pet food), which operates in the feed industry. With this agreement, three feed plants in Bolu, Gönen and Lüleburgaz were brought together under Cargill Turkey.

2002 – Through the worldwide acquisition of Cerestar, 50% of the shares of Pendik Starch Industry in Turkey, which belonged to Cerestar, passed to Cargill, creating an equal-share partnership with Ülker Group. The feed companies were sold to local entrepreneurs.

2004 – Black River Hizmet Ticaret Ltd. Şti. was established.

2006 – The hazelnut processing plant was sold.

2008 – The partnership agreement with Rota Denizcilik ve Ticaret A.Ş. for the facility in Yarımca was extended until 2013.

2009 – Iron and steel trading was discontinued.

2010 – The shares of Pendik Starch Industry were transferred to Cargill Tarım ve Gıda San. A.Ş.

2013 – The partnership with Rota Denizcilik ve Ticaret A.Ş. was ended. The Vaniköy Corn Milling Factory was closed and its glucose and starch production units were moved to the Orhangazi factory. A new starch and sweetener joint venture was signed with the Saudi company Arasco in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Trading of non-starch industrial product portfolio began.

2014 – Acquired Alemdar Kimya A.Ş. with the aim of producing Cargill's bio-industrial products locally. In the same period, it added the Turyağ facilities in Balıkesir, along with all of its B2B brands, all of its employees and its sales and marketing network.

Source: Cargill