Trading Statement

Tate & Lyle PLC
                  

                            Trading Update

Tate & Lyle issues the following trading update.

Group profit before tax in the third quarter of the year to 31 March 2004 has
been in line with our expectations.

At Staley in the US, whilst some of the 2004 sweetener sales contracts have been
completed at increased prices, the negotiation of major contracts is ongoing and
may take some weeks to conclude. These contracts, which are being negotiated
against a background of recent corn price rises, will influence the final
outcome on sweetener product margins. Gains in citric acid selling prices have
seen this product line return to profit.

Negotiation of Amylum's annual contracts is not yet finished. Raw material costs
in Europe, which had increased markedly at the time of our interim announcement
on the 6 November 2003, have continued to rise significantly. These have reduced
margins on Amylum's contracts agreed at that time and subsequent pricing has not
fully recovered higher net raw material costs. This has been exacerbated by
recently increased competitive pressures and by weaker vital wheat gluten prices
so that results from Amylum for 2004 will be below our earlier expectations.

Profit before tax and exceptional items for the Group for the financial year to
31 March 2004 will depend upon the final outcome of the pricing negotiations in
both the US and Europe and the translation impact of exchange rates.
Nevertheless, we anticipate results will be close to market expectations with a
weaker Amylum result in the final quarter being offset by a satisfactory
performance in the rest of the business.

Looking forward, based on our current experience of raw material costs and
contract negotiations to date, we expect Amylum's results for the financial year
to 31 March 2005 to be significantly below those of 2004. A review of Amylum's
operations is in hand in order further to reduce the cost base. Although we
anticipate further progress in 2005 at our North American businesses, this is
likely to be offset on currency translation.

For more information contact:
Mark Robinson, Head of Investor Relations [e-mail]
Tel: [phone]

Chris Fox, Director of Corporate Relations (Press)
Tel: [phone]

About Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle is a world leader in carbohydrate ingredients. Our core competence
is to take basic carbohydrates - corn, wheat or sugar - and add value to these
raw materials through technology. As a result of continuous innovation we offer
an ever-wider product portfolio of versatile and functional ingredients. These
products include Cereal Sweeteners, Starches, Sugars and Citric Acid. Our
products have wide applications in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic,
paper, packaging and building industries.

With headquarters in London, Tate & Lyle operates more than 40 plants in 24
countries, almost all in Europe and the Americas. We employ 6,700 people in our
subsidiaries with a further 2,800 employed in joint ventures. Sales in the year
to 31 March 2003 totalled £3,167 million. More details are available online at
www.tateandlyle.com