SIX MEAT PROCESSORS PLAN WEB SITE

MINNEAPOLIS -- A group of leading meat and poultry processors -- IBP, Cargill, Incorporated and its red meat business (Excel Corporation), Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, Gold Kist, and Farmland Industries, Inc.'s red meat businesses (Farmland National Beef and Farmland Foods) -- have announced plans to launch an on-line, business-to-business marketplace for meat and poultry products, services, and information by this summer. The site will be a "neutral" Web-based exchange providing an electronic forum for interaction between buyers and sellers, according to officials from the companies.The initial capitalization for the e-commerce operation is $20 million, with each of the investing companies possessing a single seat on the board of directors, they said.