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Financial Instruments, Derivatives and Hedging Activities
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2014
Financial Instruments, Derivatives and Hedging Activities  
Financial Instruments, Derivatives and Hedging Activities

4.Financial Instruments, Derivatives and Hedging Activities

 

The Company is exposed to market risk stemming from changes in commodity prices (primarily corn and natural gas), foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates.  In the normal course of business, the Company actively manages its exposure to these market risks by entering into various hedging transactions, authorized under established policies that place clear controls on these activities.  These transactions utilize exchange-traded derivatives or over-the-counter derivatives with investment grade counterparties.  Derivative financial instruments currently used by the Company consist of commodity futures, options and swap contracts, foreign currency forward contracts and swaps, and interest rate swaps.

 

Commodity price hedging:  The Company’s principal use of derivative financial instruments is to manage commodity price risk in North America relating to anticipated purchases of corn and natural gas to be used in the manufacturing process, generally over the next twelve to eighteen months.  To manage price risk related to corn purchases in North America, the Company uses corn futures and options contracts that trade on regulated commodity exchanges to lock-in its corn costs associated with firm-priced customer sales contracts.  The Company uses over-the-counter gas swaps to hedge a portion of its natural gas usage in North America.  These derivative financial instruments limit the impact that volatility resulting from fluctuations in market prices will have on corn and natural gas purchases and have been designated as cash-flow hedges.  Unrealized gains and losses associated with marking the commodity hedging contracts to market (fair value) are recorded as a component of other comprehensive income (“OCI”) and included in the equity section of the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as part of accumulated other comprehensive income/loss (“AOCI”).  These amounts are subsequently reclassified into earnings in the same line item affected by the hedged transaction and in the same period or periods during which the hedged transaction affects earnings, or in the month a hedge is determined to be ineffective.  The Company assesses the effectiveness of a commodity hedge contract based on changes in the contract’s fair value.  The changes in the market value of such contracts have historically been, and are expected to continue to be, highly effective at offsetting changes in the price of the hedged items.  The amounts representing the ineffectiveness of these cash-flow hedges are not significant.

 

At June 30, 2014, AOCI included $18 million of losses, net of tax of $8 million, pertaining to commodities-related derivative instruments designated as cash-flow hedges.  At December 31, 2013, AOCI included $32 million of losses, net of tax of $15 million, pertaining to commodities-related derivative instruments designated as cash-flow hedges.

 

Interest rate hedging:  Derivative financial instruments that have been used by the Company to manage its interest rate risk consist of Treasury Lock agreements (“T-Locks”) and interest rate swaps.  The Company did not have any T-locks outstanding at June 30, 2014 or December 31, 2013.  The Company has interest rate swap agreements that effectively convert the interest rate on its 3.2 percent $350 million senior notes due November 1, 2015 to a variable rate.  These swap agreements call for the Company to receive interest at a fixed rate (3.2 percent) and to pay interest at a variable rate based on the six-month US dollar LIBOR rate plus a spread.  The Company has designated these interest rate swap agreements as hedges of the changes in fair value of the underlying debt obligation attributable to changes in interest rates and accounts for them as fair-value hedges.  Changes in the fair value of interest rate swaps designated as hedging instruments that effectively offset the variability in the fair value of outstanding debt obligations are reported in earnings.  These amounts offset the gain or loss (that is, the change in fair value) of the hedged debt instrument that is attributable to changes in interest rates (that is, the hedged risk), which is also recognized in earnings.  The fair value of these interest rate swap agreements at June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013 was $11 million and $13 million, respectively, and is reflected in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets within other assets, with an offsetting amount recorded in long-term debt to adjust the carrying amount of the hedged debt obligation.

 

At both June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, AOCI included $8 million of losses related to settled T-Locks (net of income taxes of $4 million and $5 million, respectively).  These deferred losses are being amortized to financing costs over the terms of the senior notes with which they are associated.

 

Foreign currency hedging:  Due to the Company’s global operations, including many operations in emerging markets, it is exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.  As a result, the Company has exposure to translational foreign exchange risk when its foreign operation results are translated to US dollars and to transactional foreign exchange risk when transactions not denominated in the functional currency of the operating unit are revalued.  The Company primarily uses derivative financial instruments such as foreign currency forward contracts, swaps and options to manage its transactional foreign exchange risk.  At June 30, 2014, the Company had foreign currency forward sales contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $116 million and foreign currency forward purchase contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $59 million that hedged transactional exposures.  At December 31, 2013, the Company had foreign currency forward sales contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $147 million and foreign currency forward purchase contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $78 million that hedged transactional exposures.  The fair value of these derivative instruments are liabilities of $0.3 million and $5 million at June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively.

 

The Company also has foreign currency derivative instruments that hedge certain foreign currency transactional exposures and are designated as cash-flow hedges.  At June 30, 2014, AOCI included $0.3 million of net losses, net of income taxes, associated with these hedges.  At December 31, 2013, AOCI included $1 million of net gains, net of income taxes, associated with these hedges.

 

The fair value and balance sheet location of the Company’s derivative instruments, accounted for as cash-flow hedges and presented gross on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, are reflected below:

 

 

 

Fair Value of Derivative Instruments

 

Derivatives designated as

 

 

 

Fair Value

 

 

 

Fair Value

 

cash-flow hedging
instruments:
(in millions)

 

Balance Sheet
Location

 

At
June 30,
2014

 

At
December 31,
2013

 

Balance Sheet
Location

 

At
June 30,
2014

 

At
December 31,
2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commodity and foreign currency contracts

 

Accounts receivable-net

 

$

 

$

 

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

 

$

27 

 

$

27 

 

Commodity and foreign currency contracts

 

Other assets

 

 

 

Non-current liabilities

 

 

 

Total

 

 

 

$

 

$

 

 

 

$

28 

 

$

27 

 

 

At June 30, 2014, the Company had outstanding futures and option contracts that hedged the forecasted purchase of approximately 57 million bushels of corn and 28 million pounds of soy bean oil.  The Company is unable to directly hedge price risk related to co-product sales; however, it occasionally enters into hedges of soybean oil (a competing product to corn oil) in order to mitigate the price risk of corn oil sales.  Also at June 30, 2014, the Company had outstanding swap and option contracts that hedged the forecasted purchase of approximately 8 million mmbtu’s of natural gas.

 

Additional information relating to the Company’s derivative instruments is presented below (in millions, pre-tax):

 

Derivatives in

 

Amount of Gains (Losses)
Recognized in OCI
on Derivatives

 

Location of
Gains (Losses)

 

Amount of Gains (Losses)
Reclassified from AOCI
 into Income

 

Cash-Flow
Hedging
Relationships

 

Three Months
Ended
June 30, 2014

 

Three Months
Ended
June 30, 2013

 

Reclassified
from AOCI into
Income

 

Three Months
Ended
June 30, 2014

 

Three Months
Ended
June 30, 2013

 

Commodity and foreign currency contracts

 

$

(37

)

$

(24

)

Cost of sales

 

$

1

 

$

(4

)

Interest rate contracts

 

 

 

Financing costs, net

 

(1

)

(1

)

Total

 

$

(37

)

$

(24

)

 

 

$

 

$

(5

)

 

Derivatives in

 

Amount of Gains (Losses)
Recognized in OCI
on Derivatives

 

Location of
Gains (Losses)

 

Amount of Gains (Losses)
Reclassified from AOCI
into Income

 

Cash-Flow
Hedging
Relationships

 

Six Months
Ended
June 30, 2014

 

Six Months
Ended
June 30, 2013

 

Reclassified
from AOCI into
Income

 

Six Months
Ended
June 30, 2014

 

Six Months
Ended
June 30, 2013

 

Commodity and foreign currency contracts

 

$

2

 

$

(37

)

Cost of sales

 

$

(17

)

$

15

 

Interest rate contracts

 

 

 

Financing costs, net

 

(2

)

(2

)

Total

 

$

2

 

$

(37

)

 

 

$

(19

)

$

13

 

 

At June 30, 2014, AOCI included approximately $17 million of losses, net of income taxes of $8 million, on commodities-related derivative instruments designated as cash-flow hedges that are expected to be reclassified into earnings during the next twelve months.  The Company expects the losses to be offset by changes in the underlying commodities cost.  Additionally at June 30, 2014, AOCI included $2 million of losses on settled T-Locks (net of income taxes of $1 million) and $1 million of losses related to foreign currency hedges (net of income taxes of $1 million), which are expected to be reclassified into earnings during the next twelve months.

 

Presented below are the fair values of the Company’s financial instruments and derivatives for the periods presented:

 

 

 

At June 30, 2014

 

At December 31, 2013

 

(in millions)

 

Total

 

Level 1

 

Level 2

 

Level 3

 

Total

 

Level 1

 

Level 2

 

Level 3

 

Available for sale securities

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

Derivative assets

 

16 

 

 

14 

 

 

20 

 

 

20 

 

 

Derivative liabilities

 

29 

 

25 

 

 

 

32 

 

22 

 

10 

 

 

Long-term debt

 

1,855 

 

 

1,855 

 

 

1,813 

 

 

1,813 

 

 

 

Level 1 inputs consist of quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.  Level 2 inputs are inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the financial instrument.  Level 2 inputs are based on quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability or can be derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.   Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.  Unobservable inputs shall be used to measure fair value to the extent that observable inputs are not available, thereby allowing for situations in which there is little, if any, market activity for the asset or liability at the measurement date.

 

The carrying values of cash equivalents, short-term investments, accounts receivable, accounts payable and short-term borrowings approximate fair values.  Commodity futures, options and swap contracts are recognized at fair value.  Foreign currency forward contracts, swaps and options are also recognized at fair value.  The fair value of the Company’s long-term debt is estimated based on quotations of major securities dealers who are market makers in the securities.  At June 30, 2014, the carrying value and fair value of the Company’s long-term debt were $1.72 billion and $1.86 billion, respectively.