Cargill to terminate about 475 staff in Minnesota

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) -International buying and selling home Cargill plans to completely terminate about 475 staff in Minnesota, residence to its company headquarters, beginning on Feb. 5, in response to an organization letter launched by the state on Tuesday.

Cargill has stated it plans to chop round 5% of its employees after income slumped in its most up-to-date fiscal yr as crop costs hit multi-year lows.

The corporate is informing Minnesota staff about layoffs this week, and they’re eligible for severance pay and outplacement providers, Cargill stated in a letter to the Minnesota Division of Employment and Financial Growth.

The workers work at an workplace middle in Wayzata or are “tagged” to the power however reside elsewhere, in response to the letter, which added that they don’t seem to be represented by a union.

“Cargill is present process a enterprise restructuring that’s leading to a discount in power of sure roles on the Wayzata Workplace Heart,” the letter stated.

Agricultural retailers, together with privately held Cargill, are beneath strain as costs of the commodity crops they commerce, reminiscent of wheat, corn and soybeans, have dropped to close four-year lows and crop processing margins have shrunk.

Cargill has greater than 160,000 staff, which suggests {that a} 5% minimize in employees would hit about 8,000 jobs.

The corporate reported income of $160 billion for its 2024 fiscal yr that resulted in Might, down from a report $177 billion within the earlier yr.

Cargill doesn’t launch quarterly earnings statements, however in a memo seen by Reuters in August, it stated lower than one-third of its companies met their earnings objectives within the final fiscal yr.