Cargill, Central Illinois Energy Ethanol Alliance

MINNEAPOLIS - Jun 2/04 - SNS -- Cargill and Central Illinois Energy (CIE) have formed a strategic alliance to sell and distribute its 36 million gallons of yearly ethanol production.

In addition to finding markets for CIE-produced ethanol, Cargill will provide the farmer-owned organization with a basket of other services including corn buying and, through a wholly owned subsidiary, commodity futures advisory services.

The agreement is part of Cargill's strategy to market ethanol in the Northeast United States and California markets by collaborating with farmer-owned co-ops and other partners. The first such agreement, with Ohio-based Liquid Resources, was announced in Sept. 2003.

CIE's production facility is located in the Buckheart township of Fulton County, Illinois, and processes about 13 million bushels of its members' corn annually. Cargill, which has its own ethanol production facilities in Blair, Neb. and Eddyville, Iowa, is also a market leader in providing grain origination and distillers grain-marketing services to the ethanol industry.

In addition, through its wholly owned subsidiary Cargill Commodity Services, a registered commodity trading advisor, Cargill provides commodity futures trading advisory services to help farmers and processors manage their grain and energy price risk.