How Bunge Makes Money

Bunge earns a spread, not a price. It buys oilseeds and grain from farmers and country elevators, moves them by truck, barge, rail and ship, and either sells them on to customers in other regions or crushes them. Crushing splits a soybean into about 80 percent protein meal, sold to animal feed makers, and 18 to 19 percent oil, sold to food companies and increasingly to renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel producers. Profit depends on the crush margin, the gap between the cost of the seed and the combined value of meal and oil, and on merchandising spreads across origins, seasons and freight routes. In 2025 cost of goods sold absorbed $66.9 billion of $70.3 billion of net sales, a gross margin of 4.8 percent, so volume and risk management matter more than pricing power. Four reportable segments carried the business in 2025: Soybean Processing and Refining ($36.3 billion of net sales), Grain Merchandising and Milling ($18.1 billion), Softseed Processing and Refining ($11.3 billion) and Other Oilseeds Processing and Refining ($4.6 billion), which Bunge renamed Tropical Oils and Specialty Ingredients in 2026.

Bunge's growth plan has three parts. First, extract value from Viterra by connecting its grain handling in Canada, Australia, Argentina and Europe to Bunge's crushing, refining and destination sales; cost synergies passed $70 million by the end of 2025. Second, push further into specialty ingredients: the Morristown, Indiana soy protein concentrate plant came online in late 2025, and on 2 March 2026 Bunge closed the purchase of IFF's soy protein concentrate, lecithin and soy crush businesses, including the Response, Alpha, Procon and Solec brands. Third, supply lower-carbon feedstocks for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel through its Chevron joint venture and its Repsol partnership. Capital spending is guided at $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion for 2026, alongside a $3 billion share repurchase authorization and a commitment to return at least half of discretionary cash flow to shareholders across the cycle.