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A PROVEN STRATEGY As the company has grown and developed, we have refined our approach. We have launched global initiatives and expanded our vision to include new value chains. Today, we articulate our strategy by dividing it into four components: 1. Strengthen core businesses, 2. Leverage existing positions to enter complementary value chains, 3. Enhance efficiency and customer focus to compete at the highest level, 4. Utilize our decentralized and, at the same, integrated operating model for competitive advantage.
STRENGTHEN CORE BUSINESSES
Agribusiness Bunge's grain origination business performed exceptionally well in 2007, and we are committed to becoming a world leader in that value chain. Key steps to achieving this goal will be the growth of origination and logistics operations in North America and Eastern Europe, and the expansion of our global logistics and destination marketing capabilities. 2007 saw Bunge secure the rights to coordinate all agricultural shipments through the Port of Brunswick, Georgia, in the United States. When compared to constructing a large new terminal in Santos, Brazil, which we did over the past several years, the Brunswick arrangement is relatively small, but its size belies its importance. By increasing our capabilities on the East Coast, the agreement will provide another point through which we can supply U.S. exports to the Mediterranean and Latin America.
Fertilizer We are making progress on a long-term program to expand our local phosphate mining capacity, and we are increasing our raw material supply in other ways. In 2007, we announced a joint venture with Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP) in Morocco, which holds one of the world's largest phosphate reserves. The venture will provide a new source of raw materials and intermediate fertilizer products for use in Bunge's businesses and for sale in Latin America. Facilities are under construction now, and we expect the first volumes of phosphoric acid to be produced later this year. As volumes increase, we will begin integrating shipments into our ocean freight logistics network, which should contribute to overall efficiency since we import fertilizer raw materials to Brazil on the same ships that we use to export agricultural products.
Food Products
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