Cargill Profit Spikes 86% With Boost From Trump Tax Bill
Agriculture and Food Processing Company Attributed One-Time Gain of $455 Million to President's One Big Beautiful Bill
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Cargill Inc.’s profit surged 86% in the first quarter as the largest private company in the U.S. benefited from President Donald Trump’s tax bill and better performance in all its business segments.
Net income jumped to $1.94 billion in the three months ended Aug. 31, with gains coming from businesses including cocoa and its Wayne-Sanderson Farms chicken joint venture, according to accounts seen by Bloomberg. Cargill attributed a one-time gain of $455 million to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Cargill, which counts at least a dozen billionaires among its shareholders, is owned by the heirs of William Wallace Cargill. The world’s largest agricultural commodities trader is profiting from strong cocoa sourcing and American consumers turning to chicken to replace pricey beef after the U.S. cattle herd fell to the lowest in seven decades.
A spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-based company declined to comment. Cargill stopped publicly reporting its results during the pandemic. Cargill ranks No. 21 on the TT sector list of the top agriculture and food processing carriers.
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Net income jumped from about $1 billion a year earlier, according to the accounts. The company said it had re-evaluated some aspects of its deferred tax assets, which resulted in an almost 26% reduction in the effective tax rate for the quarter.Ìý
The cocoa and chocolate business in Europe and Africa rebounded from a weak quarter a year earlier, while tighter beef margins were mitigated by effective risk management, according to the accounts. The Wayne-Sanderson venture also completed the acquisition of Georgia-based Harrison Poultry in the period.
Revenue rose to $40.7 billion in the quarter, up from $39.4 billion a year earlier.
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Cargill’s agriculture and trading unit benefited from higher soybean processing margins and a recovery in grain sales in both Brazil and the U.S. While Brazilian exports of soybeans have surged due to Trump’s trade war with China, American corn exports are running at a record pace this season, wheat shipments are up 15%, and soybean oil exports surged 300%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Cargill has been restructuring its business for more than a year, having already cut its business units to three from five. In the latest quarter, it reported $15 million of severance and benefits and $1 million of other direct before-tax costs related to the restructuring.
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