LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS
Dear Shareholders,
Tight commodity stocks, droughts, floods and shifting trade policies made 2010 a year of extremes in the agribusiness and food markets. Bunge navigated it with skill, but could not avoid every obstacle. We finished 2010 strongly, however, with good momentum carrying us into this year.
Perhaps no event was more significant than the sudden drop in grain exports from the Black Sea region, caused by drought and export embargoes. In response, trade flows shifted abruptly. Customers in the livestock industry adjusted their feed rations and turned en masse to Brazil for corn and North America for substitute wheat. An additional 10 million metric tons of commodities had to find their way through a U.S. export infrastructure already straining to manage big flows of corn and soybeans.
The fact that our Agribusiness segment earned EBIT of over $800 million in a year punctuated by such disruptions is a testament to our team's ability to manage risk and the capability of our global network to deliver the products our customers need, when they need them.
Food & Ingredients also produced strong results, demonstrating the importance of our downstream operations and the strategic efforts we have made to increase share in margarine, mayonnaise and other value-added markets.
Yet other external events were harder to manage. Drought in Brazil's center south region, where a majority of our sugarcane mills stand, reduced agricultural yields and processing volumes-a drag on earnings that was compounded by delays in start-up and expansion at some of our facilities. A strong performance by our global sugar merchandising and trading business was not enough to compensate for these shortfalls.
Despite lower-than-expected segment earnings, 2010 was a year of strategic accomplishments in Sugar & Bioenergy-none more so than the acquisition of Moema, which expanded our milling capacity to 21 million metric tons. With this addition, we have built an outstanding business that is well-positioned to capitalize on growth in global sugar demand and the strong market for ethanol in Brazil.
The strategic sale of our Brazilian phosphate mines and other nutrients assets signaled a year of change in Fertilizer. Net proceeds of $3.5 billion from the sale enabled us to realize the significant value we had created in the business and redeploy capital into other parts of our company, where we see steady growth and greater synergies. While it will take some time to complete the full transition of our remaining Brazilian operations into a pure blending and distribution model, we made strides in 2010 by restructuring our commercial organization, improving risk management and reducing costs. We also strengthened our business in other geographies. We completed the acquisition of a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in Argentina and, in early 2011, expanded our wholesale distribution footprint in the U.S.
Proceeds from the sale also enabled us to pay down $1.5 billion of debt and repurchase $354 million in common shares through our stock buyback program. Today, Bunge's balance sheet is as strong as ever, with a debt to equity ratio of 39 percent and nearly $3 billion in unused credit lines. Our financial strength is vital to fund growth and manage today's volatile commodity price environment.
Efficient operations are equally critical to our future. While we remain committed to applying LeanSigma and other efficiency programs locally, in 2010 we created a global function that is charged with improving operational excellence through greater coordination, consistency and effectiveness. One new project is an asset reliability program that, when fully implemented, should reduce our annual operating costs by $100 million through less downtime, increased throughput and lower maintenance and inventory expenses.
Perhaps our most notable efficiency effort is One Brazil, the full integration of our Brazilian businesses. With new profiles in Fertilizer and Sugar & Bioenergy, there was a clear opportunity to restructure our operations, lower overhead and maximize natural commercial and logistics synergies within our new portfolio. We moved quickly to do so. Today, Bunge Brazil is one enterprise with four interconnected business units and consolidated functional and back-office support. We expect One Brazil to create $120 million in annual savings starting this year.