bunge 2004 annual report management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations available at December 31, 2004. In June 2004, we renewed our $460 million three-year U.S. revolving credit facility, increasing the facility to $850 million with a five-year term. In addition, in July 2004 we renewed our $455 million European revolving credit facility with a one-year term. At December 31, 2004, we had $401 million outstanding under our commercial paper program. Our commercial paper program is our least expensive available short-term funding source. We maintain back-up bank credit lines equal to the maximum capacity of our commercial paper program of $600 million. In June 2004, we renewed these lines for a three-year term expiring in June 2007. If we were unable to access the commercial paper market, we would use these bank credit lines, which would be at a higher cost than our commercial paper. At December 31, 2004, no amounts were outstanding under these back-up bank credit lines. Our short-term and long-term debt decreased by $113 million  at December 31, 2004 from December 31, 2003 primarily due  to repayments from cash flows provided by operations. In April 2004, we completed an offering of $500 million aggre- gate principal amount of unsecured senior notes bearing interest at a rate of 5.35% per year that mature in April 2014. The notes were issued by our wholly owned finance subsidiary, Bunge Limited Finance Corp. and are fully and unconditionally guaran- teed by us. Interest on these unsecured senior notes is payable semi-annually in arrears in April and October of each year,  commencing in October 2004. We used the net proceeds of  this offering of $496 million for the repayment of other outstand- ing indebtedness. Through our subsidiaries, we have various other long-term debt facilities at fixed and variable interest rates denominated in both U.S. dollars and Brazilian  reais, most of which mature between 2005 and 2008. At December 31, 2004, we had $383 million outstanding under these long-term debt facilities. Of this amount, at December 31, 2004, $178 million was secured by certain land, property, plant and equipment and investments in our consolidated subsidiaries, having a net carrying value of $633 million. Our credit facilities and certain senior notes require us to comply with specified financial covenants related to minimum net worth, working capital and a maximum debt to capitalization ratio. We were in compliance with these covenants as of December 31, 2004. We do not have any ratings downgrade triggers that would accelerate the maturity of our debt. However, a downgrade in  42 Redeemable Preferred Stock Minority interest in subsidiaries on the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2003 included $170 million of cumulative variable rate redeemable preferred shares issued by our consolidated subsidiary, Bunge First Capital Concurrent with the September 2004 termination of certain of our interest rate swap agreements, we entered into new interest rate swap agreements maturing in 2008 and 2014 for the purpose of managing our interest rate exposure on a portion of our fixed rate debt. Under the terms of the new interest rate swaps, we make payments based on six-month LIBOR in arrears, and we will receive fixed interest rates based on our $500 million aggregate principal amount 5.35% senior notes due 2014 and our $500 million aggregate principal amount 4.375% senior notes due 2008. The interest rate swaps settle every six months until expiration. Accrued interest of $6 million relating to these swaps was recorded as  a reduction to interest expense in 2004 in the consolidated statements of income. In June 2004, we entered into various interest rate swap agree- ments maturing in 2008 and 2014 for the purpose of managing our interest rate exposure on a portion of our fixed rate debt.  In September 2004, these interest rate swaps were terminated and we received cash of $60 million, comprised of $8 million  of accrued interest and a $52 million gain on the net settlement of the interest rate swap agreements. The $8 million of interest was included as a reduction to interest expense in 2004 in the consolidated statements of income and the $52 million gain resulted in an adjustment to the carrying value of the associated debt in the consolidated balance sheets. The $52 million gain will be amortized to earnings over the remaining term of the debt, which ranges from four to nine years. The $60 million of cash received was included in the consolidated statements of cash flows as cash provided by operating activities. Our credit ratings on our unsecured guaranteed senior notes by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s) at December 31, 2004 were “Baa3” with “outlook positive” and “BBB” by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services and Fitch Rating Services. Our commer- cial paper is rated “A-1” by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, and “P-1” by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and the interest rates on our commercial paper borrowings are indexed to this rating. On March 7, 2005, Moody’s upgraded our credit rating on our unsecured guaranteed senior notes to “Baa-2-outlook stable.” our credit ratings could adversely affect our ability to renew existing or to obtain access to new credit facilities in the future and would increase the cost of such facilities to us.