Cargill’s position on Sinar Mas (PT SMART) - updated 16 Aug 2010

Cargill has reviewed the results of the PT SMART (Sinar Mas) audit conducted by Control Union Certification (CUC) and BSI Group regarding the allegations made by Greenpeace about PT SMART’s Indonesian palm plantations. We are satisfied that this has been an independent, detailed and thorough evaluation of the allegations.

We are encouraged PT SMART has acknowledged areas of non-compliance with the RSPO and its own company policies, that it has committed to taking corrective actions and to strengthening its standard operating procedures to address these. Additionally, we note that Golden Agri-Resources Limited – the holding company of PT SMART – has committed to becoming a member of the RSPO and to obtaining RSPO certification for all of its existing palm operations by 2015.

We will be speaking with PT SMART and Golden Agri-Resources to understand in more detail their plans and timeframe for implementing corrective actions. We look forward to seeing progress by them on their commitments. We will continue to work with all our suppliers towards our goal of sustainable palm oil and, as we announced in early July, we are working with WWF to assess our palm oil suppliers in Indonesia and Golden Agri-Resources will be included in this process.

We believe palm oil should be produced sustainably, we are committed to working towards sustainable palm oil production and we fully support the RSPO process. Our palm plantation – PT Hindoli in Sumatra, Indonesia – was one of the first to receive RSPO certification in February 2009 and we are working to certify our other plantations as quickly as possible. Smallholders at our PT Hindoli plantation have also become the first to smallholder scheme to become certified under the RSPO’s Smallholder Principles & Criteria. We have set a goal of buying 60 percent of our total crude palm oil from RSPO members by the end of 2010 and encourage all of our suppliers to become members of the RSPO and to work to certify their plantations.

For some time, we have also had our own policies in place for responsible palm production on our own plantations. These include commitments that we will not plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); we will not develop new plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten biodiversity, including orangutans and other native species. We also have a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.

Additionally, we are working with local communities and international organizations such as WWF, Conservation International and Fauna & Flora International to protect HCVF and species in and around our plantations, and we have contributed to research to encourage the viability of palm oil development on degraded land. More information about our commitments and efforts on sustainable palm oil is available on http://www.cargill.com/corporate-responsibility/pov/palm-oil/index.jsp