FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1997                             (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

       JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REQUIRES SELL OFF OF SALT ASSETS
        IN SETTLEMENT WITH SALT PRODUCERS CARGILL AND AKZO


    State Attorneys General from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio
                        Join in Settlement


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice and three
State Attorneys General reached a settlement today with two of
the nation's largest salt producers--Cargill Inc. and Akzo Nobel
N.V.--allowing the $160 million merger to proceed if Cargill
sells off deicing salt assets and a New York food-grade salt
plant.

     The Department's Antitrust Division and State Attorneys
General from New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio said that a merger
of Cargill and Akzo would substantially reduce competition in two
markets--the bulk deicing salt market in the Northeast interior
of the country and the food-grade evaporated salt market east of
the Rocky Mountains. 
 
     Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Department's Antitrust Division, said, "From the dinner
table to icy roads and sidewalks, salt is critical to our
everyday life.  Without this divestiture, taxpayers and consumers
would have suffered increased prices for these essential
products." 

     Deicing salt is medium or coarse grade rock salt bought by
state and municipal governments in bulk for use in melting snow
and ice on public roads.  Food grade evaporated salt is a highly
refined, extremely pure salt that meets Food and Drug
Administration standards for human consumption.  It is added
during food processing as a preservative and flavor enhancer for
a wide variety of baked, frozen, dried and canned foods and
snacks, everything from apple pie to canned zucchini. 

     The complaint and proposed settlement were filed today in
federal district court in Rochester, New York by the Department's
Antitrust Division and State Attorneys General from New York,
Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

     Cargill and Akzo are two of only four producers of bulk
deicing salt in the $100 million Northeast interior market--an
area that includes Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo, New York;
Erie, Pennsylvania; and Burlington, Vermont. 
 
     The companies are the second and third leading producers of
food grade evaporated salt in the $200 million market east of the
Rocky Mountains.

     Under the proposed consent decree, which must be approved by
the court, Cargill and Akzo will divest assets necessary to
ensure continued bulk deicing salt competition in the interior Northeast. 
 
     Cargill will sell to American Rock Salt Co., a prospective
new entrant, a mammoth stockpile of bulk deicing salt in Retsof,
New York, a four year salt supply contract from the Cargill and
Akzo mines, and numerous salt depots for storage and
transshipment of salt to customers.  These divestitures will
create immediate competition while American Rock Salt builds a
new mine in Hampton Corners, New York.  
     
     To alleviate the competitive effects of the combination in
the food-grade salt market, Cargill will divest Akzo's Watkins
Glen, New York plant, which makes food-grade evaporated salt.

     Cargill Inc., is a privately held company headquartered in
Wayzata, Minnesota.  It is purchasing the U.S. salt subsidiary of
Akzo Nobel N.V., Akzo Nobel Salt Inc., which is located in Clarks
Summitt, Pennsylvania.  Akzo Nobel N.V. is based in Arnhem, The
Netherlands.  

     As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed consent decree
will be published in the Federal Register, together with the
Department's competitive impact statement.  Any person may submit
written comments concerning the proposed consent decree during a
60-day comment period to J. Robert Kramer, II, Chief, Litigation
II Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Suite
3000, 1401 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 307-0924. 
At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the federal
district court in Rochester may enter the consent decree upon
finding that it serves the public interest.      
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