SWP Sells Mexican Interests

REGINA - Jun 15/04 - SNS -- Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP) sold its 50% interest in Comercializadora La Junta, S.A. de C.V. ("CLJ"), a port terminal facility in Manzanillo, Mexico.

As a result of the sale, the company will no longer be responsible for certain long-term liabilities that were recognized in 2002 when the Pool wrote-off its investment in this operation. As at July 31, 2003, the Pool had approximately $8 million of short and long-term liabilities recorded on its balance sheet.

The Pool will record a one-time recovery of $5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 and will record an additional $2 million as operating income in that quarter. There were no significant cash proceeds realized on the sale of this operation.

CLJ was created through a joint venture between Saskatchewan Wheat Pool under its previous management team and a Mexican partner. The terminal, originally announced in 1997, opened in June 1999 and was estimated to handle three million metric tons (MT) of product per year, but never reached its potential. In 2002, the Pool wrote off its investment.