Golden Growers will pay no dividends yet because its profit came in the form of increased equity, not cash. Capital improvements made in the plant, and resulting increased rent payments from Cargill, increased the co-op's equity in ProGold. Red Geurts, who manages the plant for Cargill, painted a gloomy picture for fructose prices in the coming year. Industrywide, factory utilization is only about 82 percent of capacity, Guerts told growers. Use of the so-called 55 percent sweetener used by large soft drink bottlers shrank by 1.7 percent in 1999.
Large bottlers are in a fight for profit.
Meanwhile, second-tier bottlers increased their volume and market share. They use use some 55 percent fructose, but also 42 percent fructose.