ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, U.S. — Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited, announced on July 15 that it has decided to close its oil packaging plant in Bradley, Illinois, U.S. In addition, functions currently performed in the adjacent administrative building such as financial and customer services, regulatory and innovation, will be transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. BNA's corporate headquarters. These changes are scheduled to occur in 18 to 24 months.

"Our team in Bradley has worked hard to make the plant as efficient as possible, but it is more than a half century old and needs significant capital investment," said Tim Gallagher, executive vice-president, Oilseed Value Chain. "As a result of our strong productivity initiatives, we found we can continue to provide our customers with high quality products, reliable supply and strong customer service from our other U.S. packaging locations with less investment."

Approximately 150 employees work in the oil packaging plant. The administrative office includes about 60 employees. Employees not being transferred to St. Louis will be able to apply for open positions at other Bunge facilities.