People
When Johann Bunge founded a trading company in Amsterdam in 1818, did he imagine it would still be thriving two centuries later?
Bunge began as an import-export business in a single city. Starting with Johann’s grandsons, Edouard and Ernest, the family expanded his vision through generations and across oceans. In 1884, together with the Born family, it launched a grain trading company in the burgeoning agribusiness market of Argentina.
In 1905 the company expanded to Brazil and in 1918 to North America, the world’s largest agricultural market.
Asia and Europe followed, as Bunge steadily established itself in the world’s great crop-growing regions, while staying close to the customers it served. We continue to follow this path today.
The Bunge and Born families no longer manage the business, but we honor their achievements and remain true to their commitment to building a winning global footprint. What’s more, we encourage our employees to embody the families’ entrepreneurial spirit that has enabled Bunge to grow and to prosper for almost 200 years.
Movement
From its origins in the European trading centers of Amsterdam and Antwerp, Bunge has always looked far and wide for the right partners and customers. By the early 20th century we had crossed the Atlantic to Argentina and Brazil. Bunge soon became truly global, taking advantage of different growing seasons and fast-developing consumer markets. Throughout this period, we continued to focus on achieving the right balance between our core activities in agribusiness and food and ingredients.
We consistently created value by serving customers better, improving our processes and making steady progress towards becoming the world’s best agrifood company.
Bunge moved headquarters from Sao Paulo to New York in 1998. Since going public, we have expanded to India, China, the Pacific Northwest, Vietnam and Australia. We continue to seek out opportunities around the world that will strengthen our winning footprint and achieve the right balance in both business type and capital allocation.
Projects
For almost two centuries, Bunge has expanded its focus, but at heart it remains a business built on transporting and adding value to agricultural commodities. From wheat exports to soybean crushing, from edible oil production to fertilizer sales, we have established a global infrastructure to support our winning footprint. This includes grain elevators, port terminals, grain mills, oilseed crushing facilities and refineries, sugarcane mills and innovation centers. They are complemented by a global network of trading and marketing offices.
These assets enable us to expand into markets where growth is high and where we can optimize the value chain.
They give us huge opportunities, where we have the same customers, channels, value drivers, logistics and risk management opportunities. Along with our multicultural, multi-talented team, they make us both a global and a local company.
Zaman Tüneli
1818
Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge founds Bunge & Co. in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as an import-export trading business.
1859
Bunge relocates to Antwerp, Belgium, and starts business with Asia and Africa, becoming one of the world’s leading commodities traders.
1884
Johann Bunge’s grandson, Ernest, and his brother-in-law Jorge Born, launch a grain trading company, Bunge y Born, in the burgeoning agribusiness market of Argentina.
1900
In the 1900s, Bunge y Born founds various companies including Compañía Industrial de Bolsas (cereal bags manufacturer), La Fabril (cotton seed processor), Alba (paint manufacturer), Compañía Química (chemical and fertilizer maker) and Grafa (textile maker), among others.
1902
Bunge y Born builds Molinos Río de la Plata, one of the largest wheat mills in Argentina.
1905
Bunge begins operations in Brazil by incorporating Moinho Santista Indústrias Gerais wheat mill in Santos, Brazil.
1914
Bunge acquires Fluminense wheat mill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2014, Bunge announces it would build a new plant, the most modern in South America, keeping the name Fluminense. This unit was launched in 2016.
1926
Bunge y Born inaugurates its Buenos Aires headquarters.
1929
Bunge launches Salada cottonseed oil, the first vegetable oil (other than olive oil) in Brazil. 
1935
Bunge purchases its first sizable grain facility, Midway, adjacent to a rail terminal in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., adding physical facilities to its grain trading capabilities.
1955
In commemoration of its 50th anniversary in Brazil, Bunge creates the Moinho Santista Foundation, today called the Bunge Foundation a non-profit entity with the objective of contributing to sustainable development through initiatives that enhance the advancement of science, education and natural resources conservancy.
1958
Bunge launches its first soybean oil brand in Brazil: Primor.
1959
Bunge launches Delícia margarine, the first chilled margarine in Brazil.
1961
Bunge opens the largest export grain-handling elevator of its kind on the Mississippi River in Destrehan, Louisiana, U.S.
1967
Bunge inaugurates the first soy crushing plant in Latin America through S. A. Moinhos Rio Grandenses (SAMRIG).
1979
Bunge acquires Lauhoff Grain Company in the U.S., becoming the world´s largest corn dry miller and marking Bunge entry into the value-added food ingredient business on the milling side.
1987
Bunge launches Pré-Mescla, a brand of pre-mix for baking breads in the Brazilian market.
1990
Bunge North America moves its headquarters from New York City to St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
1992
Bunge launches Delícia Light margarine the first in the Brazilian market with 50% fewer calories.
1997
Bunge invests in Harinera La Espiga in Mexico City, the largest wheat mill in the Spanish-speaking Americas.
1997
Bunge acquires Ceval, the largest soy processor in Brazil. Over the next 7 years, acquisitions and organic growth make Bunge the largest soy processor in South America. In Brazil, the deal was seen as the largest acquisition of the year outside the financial sector, and made Bunge the largest agribusiness company in the country.
1998
Bunge moves its global headquarters from São Paulo, Brazil to White Plains, New York.
1999
Bunge completes construction of the largest U.S. soybean crushing and refining plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S.
2001
Bunge SA is established in Geneva, Switzerland by Bunge Global Markets as its European headquarters.
2001
Bunge acquires La Plata Cereal and in so doing, becomes one of the leading agribusiness companies in Argentina.
2001
After 183 years as a private, family-owned concern, Bunge makes its initial public offering of equity on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NYSE:BG. It is one of the oldest listed companies on the Big Board.
2004
Bunge constructs the port of Derince in Turkey, begins construction of the port of Liepaja in Latvia and invests in food products and agribusiness in Russia, Poland and Ukraine.
2005
Bunge begins operating its first soybean crushing and refining plant in China, in the city of Rizhao.
2005
Bunge opens a port terminal at the Ramallo industrial complex in Argentina. 
2005
Bunge celebrates its 100-year anniversary in Brazil.
2006
Bunge begins operating a soybean crushing plant in Nanjing, its second such facility in China.
2006
Bunge enters into a strategic partnership with Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in the U.S. to produce corn-based ethanol.
2006
Bunge becomes a member of the Soy Moratorium in Brazil and a founding member of Field to Market in the U.S.
2008
Bunge acquires Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke, a leading German manufacturer of consumer margarines and dressings.
2008
Bunge acquires a 50% stake in Phu My port, Vietnam.
2009
Bunge expands its industrial processes at the Ramallo indutrial complex in Argentina with the launch of an oilseed crushing plant, starting production of flours and vegetable oils.
2010
Bunge completes its acquisition of the Moema Group, a cluster of five sugarcane mills (Moema, Itapagipe, Frutal, Ouroeste and Guariroba) located on the border of São Paulo and Minas Gerais states the two largest domestic ethanol markets in Brazil.
2010
Bunge purchases Petrobras´ fertilizer operations in Argentina and becomes one of the leading fertilizer companies in the Southern Cone region.
2010
Bunge acquires Pacific International Rice Mills (PIRMI) in the U.S., entering the rice market for the first time.
2010
Bunge unifies its activities in Brazil, combining Bunge Alimentos and Bunge Fertilizantes into Bunge Brasil. Bunge buys a sugarcane mill group Moema and consolidates its position in this segment.
2011
Bunge begins operating in the tomato sauce segment in Brazil with the acquisition of Etti, one of the most traditional brands in the country.
2011
Bunge announces an agreement with Aceitera General Deheza to begin building a corn processing plant in Argentina. Called ProMaíz, it will ultimately possess the largest production capacity for ethanol and other corn derivatives at the national level.
2011
Bunge acquires the edible oils and fats business of Amrit Banaspati in India, including the Gagan, Dalda, Masterline and Chambal brands.
2012
Bunge forms a joint venture with biotech company Solazyme (now Corbion) to build, own and operate a commercial-scale renewable oils production facility adjacent to Bunges Moema sugarcane mill in Brazil. Using microalgae with sugarcane as feedstock, the JV will go on to produce innovative food and feed ingredients, including the 2016 launch of AlgaPrime DHA, a long chain omega-3 rich algae ingredient developed for the aquaculture feed market.
2012
EGT, Bunge’s joint venture with Japanese trading company, ITOCHU, begins exporting grains and oilseeds from a newly constructed U.S. export elevator on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. It is the first export elevator built in the U.S. in 30 years.
2013
Bunge acquires the wheat milling business of Grupo Altex, a leading Mexican wheat miller producing bread flour, prepared flours for baked goods, tortillas and pizza and semolina for pasta. Its six mills, branded products and innovation center serve Mexico’s main population centers and complement Bunge’s existing wheat milling business, Harinera La Espiga, to provide nationwide coverage to key flour customers.
2014
Bunge develops a northern route for grain exports in Brazil by inaugurating a port complex in Pará, and forms a joint venture with Amaggi (the largest private producer of soybeans in the world), to provide more efficient and environmentally friendly cargo transportation via the Tapajós-Amazonas waterway.
2014
Bunge opens an export grain port terminal in Bunbury, providing Western Australian farmers with global market access for the first time in almost 30 years.
2015
Bunge acquires Moinho Pacifico wheat mill in Santos, Brazil one of the largest wheat mills in South America.
2015
Bunge is named the most sustainable company in the agribusiness sector in Brazil, as well as most sustainable of all companies across all sectors in the country by Exame, a leading business magazine in the country.
2015
Bunge forms a joint venture called G3 with the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), and acquires a majority interest in the Canadian Wheat Board in Canada. The transaction combines the Canadian Wheat Board’s western grain assets with Bunge’s eastern grain assets, improves the geographic balance of Bunge’s grain footprint and provides greater market access to Canadian growers.
2015
Bunge acquires Whole Harvest Foods in the U.S., a supplier of expeller pressed and non-GM oil products for B2B customers.
2016
Bunge forms a joint venture with Wilmar and Green Feed in Vietnam, connecting Bunge’s upstream crushing capabilities to Wilmar’s downstream oil refining and consumer products business, and to Green Feed’s feed milling and marketing activities.
2016
Bunge enters into distribution agreements with OFI to distribute softseed and coconut oils in the Asia-Pacific region.
2016
Bunge starts operations at its new Fluminense Mill in Rio de Janeiro, the most modern wheat mill in South America.
2016
Bunge acquires a controlling stake in Walter Rau Neusser in Germany, a leading supplier of value-added oils and fats for food service and food processors in Europe.
2016
Bunge inaugurates its Industrial Transshipping Complex in Ukraine in the Black Sea port city of Nikolayev. The facility was developed to increase exports of agricultural products as well as commodities to serve customers in Europe, the Middle East and India. 
2017
Bunge forms a joint venture with Bahri Dry Bulk (the national shipping arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), establishing a leading ocean freight supplier for dry bulk import and export flows in and out of the Middle East.
2017
Bunge acquires a multi-crush and oilseed refining facility with a dedicated soybean line and a soybean/rapeseed switch line in the Port of Amsterdam, Netherlands and a soybean and rapeseed crush facility in the Port of Brest in France.
2017
Bunge acquires Ana Gida, a leading producer of olive and seed oil in Turkey, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing edible oils markets.
2017
Bunge acquires Lindemann, a leading supplier of oils and fats to both the industrial and artisanal channels of the German bakery market.
2017
Bunge agrees to acquire a 70 percent ownership interest in IOI Loders Croklaan, a leader in the semi-specialty and specialty B2B palm and tropical oils market, with strength in confectionery, bakery and infant nutrition applications. Once complete, the transaction will expand Bunges value-added capabilities, reach and scale to establish Bunge as a global leader in B2B edible oils.
2017
Bunge, The Nature Conservancy and a coalition of companies, NGOs and government entities launch Agroideal.org, a decision support tool that facilitates the sustainable expansion of soy production in South America.
2018
Bunge celebrates its bicentennial year.