6. 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 related futures, options and swap contracts, foreign currency related forward contracts, swaps and options, 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 twenty-four 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 natural 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. The Company also enters into futures contracts to hedge price risk associated with fluctuations in the market price of ethanol. 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 March 31, 2017, AOCI included $6 million of gains (net of income taxes of $2 million), pertaining to commodities-related derivative instruments designated as cash-flow hedges. At December 31, 2016, the amount included in AOCI pertaining to these commodities-related derivative instruments designated as cash-flow hedges was not significant.

Interest rate hedging: Derivative financial instruments that have been used by the Company to manage its interest rate risk consist of interest rate swaps and Treasury Lock agreements (“T-Locks”). The Company has interest rate swap agreements that effectively convert the interest rates on its 6.0 percent $200 million senior notes due April 15, 2017, its 1.8 percent $300 million senior notes due September 25, 2017 and on $200 million of its $400 million 4.625 percent senior notes due November 1, 2020, to variable rates. These swap agreements call for the Company to receive interest at the fixed coupon rate of the respective notes 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 obligations 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 (the change in fair value) of the hedged debt instrument that is attributable to changes in interest rates (the hedged risk), which is also recognized in earnings. The fair value of these interest rate swap agreements at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016 was $3 million and $3 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 obligations. The Company did not have any T-Locks outstanding at March 31, 2017 or December 31, 2016.

At March 31, 2017, AOCI included $3 million of losses, (net of income taxes of $2 million), related to settled T-Locks. At December 31, 2016, AOCI included $4 million of losses (net of income taxes of $2 million), related to settled T-Locks. 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 operations in many 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 the results of its foreign operations are translated to US dollars and to transactional foreign exchange risk when transactions not denominated in the functional currency 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 March 31, 2017, the Company had foreign currency forward sales contracts that are designated as fair value hedges with an aggregate notional amount of $430 million and foreign currency forward purchase contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $214 million that hedged transactional exposures. At December 31, 2016, the Company had foreign currency forward sales contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $432 million and foreign currency forward purchase contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $227 million that hedged transactional exposures.

The Company also has foreign currency derivative instruments that hedge certain foreign currency transactional exposures and are designated as cash-flow hedges. At March 31, 2017, AOCI included $2 million of losses, net of tax, relating to these hedges. At December 31, 2016, AOCI included $3 million of losses, net of tax, relating to these hedges.

The fair value and balance sheet location of the Company’s derivative instruments, presented gross in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, are reflected below:


	Fair Value of Derivative Instruments
		Fair Value					Fair Value
Derivatives designated as		At		At			At		At
hedging instruments:	Balance Sheet	March 31,		December 31,		Balance Sheet	March 31,		December 31,
(in millions)	Location	2017		2016		Location	2017		2016

Commodity and foreign currency	Accounts receivable-net	$	29	$	31	Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	$	19	$	25

Commodity, foreign currency, and interest rate contracts	Other assets		4		8	Non-current liabilities		3		2

Total		$	33	$	39		$	22	$	27

At March 31, 2017, the Company had outstanding futures and option contracts that hedged the forecasted purchase of approximately 99 million bushels of corn and 43 million pounds of soybean 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. The Company also had outstanding swap and option contracts that hedged the forecasted purchase of approximately 23 million mmbtu’s of natural gas at March 31, 2017. Additionally at March 31, 2017, the Company had outstanding ethanol futures contracts that hedged the forecasted sale of approximately 15 million gallons of ethanol.

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


					Location of Gains
Derivatives in	Amount of Gains (Losses)				(Losses)	Amount of Gains (Losses)
Cash-Flow	Recognized in OCI				Reclassified from	Reclassified from AOCI into Income
Hedging	Three Months Ended		Three Months Ended		AOCI	Three Months Ended		Three Months Ended
Relationships	March 31, 2017		March 31, 2016		into Income	March 31, 2017		March 31, 2016
Commodity contracts	$	7	$	(18)	Cost of sales	$	(3)	$	(9)
Foreign currency contracts		1		1	Gross profit		—		(1)
Interest rate contracts		—		—	Financing costs, net		(1)		—
Total	$	8	$	(17)		$	(4)	$	(10)

At March 31, 2017, AOCI included $6 million of gains (net of income taxes of $3 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 gains to be offset by changes in the underlying commodities costs. The Company also has $1 million of losses on settled T-Locks (net of income taxes of $1 million) recorded in AOCI at March 31, 2017, which are expected to be reclassified into earnings during the next twelve months. Additionally, at March 31, 2017, AOCI included an insignificant amount of losses related to foreign currency hedges that 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:


	As of March 31, 2017								As of December 31, 2016
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Available for sale securities	$	8	$	8	$	—	$	—	$	7	$	7	$	—	$	—
Derivative assets		33		11		22		—		39		6		33		—
Derivative liabilities		22		5		17		—		27		11		16		—
Long-term debt		1,998		—		1,998		—		1,929		—		1,929		—

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 March 31, 2017, the carrying value and fair value of the Company’s long-term debt were $1,895 million and $1,998 million, respectively.