Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Note 5

Property, Plant and Equipment

The following table is a summary of property, plant and equipment at the end of each year:

	Useful	December 31,
(Thousands of dollars)	Lives	2012			2011
Land and improvements	0-15 years	$	186,971		$	173,517
Buildings and improvements	30 years	384,535			376,659
Machinery and equipment	3-20 years	942,631			794,435
Vessels and vehicles	3-18 years	157,368			147,125
Office furniture and fixtures	5 years	29,972			28,376
Construction in progress		42,879			136,396
		1,744,356			1,656,508
Accumulated depreciation and amortization		(900,477		)	(859,686		)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	843,879		$	796,822

During the second quarter of 2009, Seaboard started operations at its ham boning and processing plant in Mexico. Despite being in operation for over two years, overall results had been below expectations with inconsistencies in margins and volumes. In the third quarter of 2011, Seaboard performed an impairment evaluation of this plant and determined there was an impairment loss based on management’s current cash flow assumptions and probabilities of outcomes. This analysis resulted in a $5,600,000 impairment charge recorded in cost of sales on the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income during the third quarter of 2011 to write down the recorded value of these assets to the estimated fair value. As this plant is not wholly-owned by Seaboard, this impairment charge is partially offset by a reduction (loss attributable) to noncontrolling interest of $1,830,000. Accordingly, the total impact on net earnings attributable to Seaboard, net of taxes, was $2,300,000. The remaining net book value of these assets as of December 31, 2012 was $3,666,000.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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