MECHELEN, Belgium, July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Cargill has supplied the first-ever sustainable verified rapeseed oil to Unilever with an initial consignment covering five percent of Unilever's rapeseed oil needs. In the next three years Cargill's European refined oils and grain & oilseed businesses will be able to meet all of Unilever's sustainable rapeseed oil needs, which is used in products including margarines and mayonnaises. As a strategic supplier, Cargill is playing a key role in supporting Unilever's ambitious target to source 100 percent of its agricultural raw materials as part of its Sustainable Living Plan by 2020.

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Cargill and Unilever worked in partnership to verify German oilseed rape production against the Unilever sustainable agriculture code, building on an initial pilot project started in 2008. A positive outcome of the work is that Cargill and Unilever now have established a repeatable model that can be applied to drive sustainability within other oilseed crops in the future.

Through this commitment on rapeseed, Unilever, Cargill and farmers will agree annual improvement plans beyond those required by mandated European good agricultural practice. This will include optimizing agricultural inputs and agreeing biodiversity action plans to support environmental and habitat enhancement. Such actions will involve increasing available habitat for insects, including wild bees.

"Unilever has a bold ambition: to double the size of its business whilst halving the

environmental impact of its products. In 2011 we increased the volume of sustainable sourced agricultural raw materials to 24 percent from 10 percent in 2010. This shows we are making good progress. However, to achieve our ambition, it is vital that we work in closer partnership with our strategic suppliers like Cargill," says David Pendlington, Unilever Procurement Operations Manager - Sustainable Sourcing. "Today's announcement demonstrates the strength and commitment of our partnership. Cargill is a strategic partner for our oils and foods ingredients. We recognize their leadership role in converting to sustainable oils," Pendlington added.

"Our partnership with Unilever is an example of both our companies' strong commitment to supporting responsible supply chains," said Juergen Keil. Supply chain director, Cargill Refined Oils Europe.  "We are combining our supply chain expertise and industry knowledge to provide customers with choices to meet their particular requirements. We are very pleased to partner with Unilever and see this as a big step forward towards sustainability in rapeseed oil and other oilseed crops."

About Cargill:

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 139,000 people in 65 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business. For more information, visit Cargill.com and its news center.    

About Unilever:

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with operations in over 100 countries and sales in 190. Consumers buy 170 billion Unilever packs around the world every year, and our products are used over two billion times a day. We have more than 171,000 employees, and generated annual sales of €46.5 billion in 2011.  

Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. Our portfolio includes some of the world's best known and most loved brands including thirteen €1 billion brands, and global leadership in most categories in which we operate.  The portfolio features iconic brands such as: Knorr, Hellmann's, Lipton, Dove, Vaseline, Persil, Cif, Marmite and Pot Noodle.

Unilever's ambition is to double the size of our business, whilst reducing our overall environmental impact (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal). We are also committed to doing what we can to improve health, nutrition and hygiene, with a target to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, as well as sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. All of these goals are itemised in around 60 time-based commitments in our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

Unilever has led the Food Producers sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for 13 consecutive years. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. In 2011 Unilever led the Climate Counts Company Scorecard and was named #1 in the list of Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders according to the latest survey findings from GlobeScan Inc. and SustainAbility Ltd. For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit http://www.unilever.com

CONTACT:      

Caroline SIKKING +31-10-427-4607
Caroline_Sikking@cargill.com

SOURCE Cargill