                                                                       Exhibit 1

         Bunge Joint Venture to Build Oilseed Crushing Plant in Ukraine

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 17, 2004 -- Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), an integrated,
global agribusiness and food company, today announced that its European
operating arm, Bunge Europe, has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Estron
Corporation to build an oilseed crushing plant in the port of Ilyichevsk,
Ukraine. The new plant is adjacent to the grain export terminal owned by Estron
Corporation. The plant's projected crushing capacity is 600,000 tons per year,
and it is expected to be operational in early 2005. The plant, as a client of
the terminal, will have access to the terminal's expanded capacity of 240,000
tons of storage space with two panamax vessel loaders.


"Bunge's strategy is to be the leading agribusiness and food company in the
higher growth markets. This investment reflects the confidence of the joint
venture partners in the long-term agricultural potential of the Ukraine," said
Jean-Louis Gourbin, CEO of Bunge Europe. "The port of Ilyichevsk is ideally
suited as a logistics gateway to service and supply the Black Sea,
Mediterranean, and Near East vegetable protein and oil markets," noted a
spokesperson for Estron Corporation. The grain terminal will benefit from
additional turnover tonnage, combined with its long-standing, high-quality
client mix. The products from the new plant will be marketed by Bunge,
leveraging its global customer base. Sunseed and other oilseeds for processing
will be originated locally by Suntrade, Bunge's Ukrainian origination company,
which has been active in the region since 1998.


About Bunge Limited

Bunge Limited (www.bunge.com) is an integrated, global agribusiness and food
company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Founded in 1818 and
headquartered in White Plains, New York, Bunge has 23,000 employees and
locations in 30 countries. Bunge is the world's leading oilseed processing
company, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South
America and the world's leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers.


Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All
statements, other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to
be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not based on
historical facts, but rather reflect our current expectations and projections
about our future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. We have
tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words including
"may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "estimate,"
"continue" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject
to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our
actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the
markets we serve or intend to serve, to differ materially from those expressed
in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The following important
factors, among others, could affect our business and financial performance: our
ability to complete, integrate and benefit from acquisitions, divestitures,
joint ventures and strategic alliances; estimated demand for the commodities and
other products that we sell and use in our business; industry conditions,
including the cyclicality of the agribusiness industry and unpredictability of
the weather; agricultural, economic and political conditions in the primary
markets where we operate; and other economic, business, competitive and/or
regulatory factors affecting our business generally. The forward-looking
statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this
release, and except as otherwise required by federal securities law, we do not
have any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements
to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.







