December 4, 2007 - Cargill, Teijin Joint Venture for NatureWorks

New Joint Venture Investment and Successful Current Plant Optimization Allow  NatureWorks to Expand Product Availability

December 4, 2007 - MINNEAPOLIS and TOKYO – Cargill and Teijin Limited of Japan announce that all required regulatory approvals for the 50/50 NatureWorks LLC joint venture have been received. Cargill and Teijin convened their first joint NatureWorks Board meeting on November 16th, signifying the formal beginning of the alliance.

This new investment by Teijin, as well as successful optimizarion efforts by the NatureWorks production and engineering teams in the past several months, provides for both near-term and long term expanded capacity. Having experienced a period of managed growth in 2006 and early 2007, NatureWorks is now aggressively fueling new market development in a variety if segments ranging from fresh food packaging and disposable food serviceware to non-woven applications, apparel and home furnishings as well as durable goods. Products made with NatureWorks® biopolymer are marketed as Ingeo™ innovations globally.

“Finalizing this joint venture solidifies one more milestone for the world’s first and largest commercial biopolymer manufacturer,” said NatureWorks CEO Dennis McGrew. “The elegant combination of Cargill’s front-end feedstock technology and access to world-class industry partners and Teijin’s leadership position with polymer and fiber applications will continue to enhance our ability to support our converter customers, brand-owners and retailers as they bring responsible innovation to a broad portfolio of consumer lifestyle products. This innovation by our more than 100 commercial partners has already contributed to over 20 broad applications families being offered at retail in more than 70,000 outlets worldwide under the Ingeo ™ brand name. With this joint venture we are well poised to respond with the market, as it moves to satisfy the booming consumer desire for more responsible products.”

About NatureWorks LLC
Dedicated to meeting the world’s needs today without compromising the earth’s ability to meet the needs of tomorrow, NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available low carbon footprint polymers derived from 100-percent annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. This polymer uses 65% less fossil fuels to produce and emits less than 80% greenhouse gases than traditional petroleum based polymers. The company applies its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, NatureWorks® and marketed global as Ingeo®. For more information, visit www.natureworksllc.com.

About Cargill
Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 158,000 employees in 66 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed. For more information, visit www.cargill.com.

About Teijin
Teijin is a global technology-driven group operating in five main fields: synthetic fibers; films and plastics; pharmaceuticals and home health care; trading and retail; and IT and new products. Teijin Limited is listed on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges and has a market capitalization of USD 5.2 billion. The company had consolidated sales of USD 8.5 billion in fiscal 2006 and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. In line with its brand statement, “Human Chemistry, Human Solutions,” the Teijin Group continues to develop chemical technologies that are friendly to people and the global environment and to provide solutions that deliver real value to customers and society.