Note 5 – Derivatives and Fair Value of Financial Instruments

U.S. GAAP discusses valuation techniques, such as the market approach (prices and other relevant information generated by market conditions involving identical or comparable assets or liabilities), the income approach (techniques to convert future amounts to single present amounts based on market expectations including present value techniques and option-pricing), and the cost approach (amount that would be required to replace the service capacity of an asset which is often referred to as replacement cost). U.S. GAAP utilizes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. The following is a brief description of those three levels:

Level 1: Observable inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2: Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs that reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions.

The following table shows assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of April 4, 2015 and also the level within the fair value hierarchy used to measure each category of assets. Seaboard uses the end of the reporting period to determine if there were any transfers between levels. There were no transfers between levels that occurred in the first quarter of 2015. The trading securities classified as other current assets below are assets held for Seaboard’s deferred compensation plans.

	Balance
	April 4,
(Thousands of dollars)	2015		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets:
Available-for-sale securities - short-term investments:
Money market funds	$	236,974	$	236,974	$	-	$	-
Corporate bonds	11,757		-		11,757		-
U.S. Government agency securities	9,354		-		9,354		-
Asset backed debt securities	2,554		-		2,554		-
U.S. Treasury securities	1,996		-		1,996		-
Collateralized mortgage obligations	816		-		816		-
Trading securities - short-term investments:
High yield debt securities	175,390		-		175,390		-
Equity mutual fund	86,268		86,268		-		-
Domestic equity ETF	61,806		61,806		-		-
Money market funds held in trading accounts	6,362		6,362		-		-
Emerging markets trading debt mutual fund	2,550		2,550		-		-
Other trading investments	1,792		-		1,792		-
Trading securities - other current assets:
Domestic equity securities	35,600		35,600		-		-
Foreign equity securities	6,780		6,780		-		-
Fixed income mutual funds	4,415		4,415		-		-
Other	2,959		2,511		448		-
Derivatives:
Commodities(1)	4,147		4,147		-		-
Foreign currencies	1,039		-		1,039		-
Total Assets	$	652,559	$	447,413	$	205,146	$	-
Liabilities:
Derivatives:
Commodities(1)	$	9,722	$	9,722	$	-	$	-
Interest rate swaps	9,256		-		9,256		-
Foreign currencies	424		-		424		-
Total Liabilities	$	19,402	$	9,722	$	9,680	$	-

(1) Seaboard’s commodities derivative assets and liabilities are presented in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets on a net basis, including netting the derivatives with the related margin accounts. As of April 4, 2015, the commodity derivatives had a margin account balance of $21,752,000 resulting in a net other current asset on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets of $16,612,000 and other current liabilities of $435,000.

The following table shows assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2014 and also the level within the fair value hierarchy used to measure each category of assets.

	Balance
	December 31,
(Thousands of dollars)	2014		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets:
Available-for-sale securities - short-term investments:
Money market funds	$	142,432	$	142,432	$	-	$	-
Corporate bonds	11,015		-		11,015		-
U.S. Government agency securities	9,666		-		9,666		-
Asset backed debt securities	2,291		-		2,291		-
Collateralized mortgage obligations	1,170		-		1,170		-
U.S. Treasury securities	522		-		522		-
Trading securities - short term investments:
High yield debt securities	181,483		-		181,483		-
Equity mutual fund	82,542		82,542		-		-
Domestic equity ETF	32,651		32,651		-		-
Money market funds held in trading accounts	21,401		21,401		-		-
Emerging markets trading debt mutual fund	2,614		2,614		-		-
Other trading investments	2,779		-		2,779		-
Trading securities - other current assets:
Domestic equity securities	33,857		33,857		-		-
Foreign equity securities	6,532		6,532		-		-
Fixed income mutual funds	4,570		4,570		-		-
Other	2,676		2,405		271		-
Derivatives:
Commodities(1)	6,136		6,136		-		-
Foreign currencies	1,675		-		1,675		-
Total Assets	$	546,012	$	335,140	$	210,872	$	-
Liabilities:
Derivatives:
Commodities(1)	$	1,779	$	1,779	$	-	$	-
Interest rate swaps	7,715		-		7,715		-
Foreign currencies	407		-		407		-
Total Liabilities	$	9,901	$	1,779	$	8,122	$	-

(1) Seaboard’s commodities derivative assets and liabilities are presented in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets on a net basis, including netting the derivatives with the related margin accounts. As of December 31, 2014, the commodity derivatives had a margin account balance of $4,314,000 resulting in a net other current asset on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets of $9,267,000 and other current liabilities of $596,000.

Financial instruments consisting of cash and cash equivalents, net receivables, notes payable, and accounts payable are carried at cost, which approximates fair value, as a result of the short-term nature of the instruments. The amortized cost and estimated fair values of investments at April 4, 2015 and December 31, 2014 are presented in Note 2.

While management believes its derivatives are primarily economic hedges of its firm purchase and sales contracts or anticipated sales contracts, Seaboard does not perform the extensive record-keeping required to account for these types of transactions as hedges for accounting purposes. Since the derivatives and interest rate exchange agreements discussed below are not accounted for as hedges, fluctuations in the related commodity prices, currency exchange rates and interest rates could have a material impact on earnings in any given period. Seaboard also enters into speculative derivative transactions not directly related to its raw material requirements. The nature of Seaboard’s market risk exposure has not changed materially since December 31, 2014.

Commodity Instruments

Seaboard uses various derivative futures and options to manage its risk to price fluctuations for raw materials and other inventories, finished product sales and firm sales commitments. At April 4, 2015, Seaboard had open net derivative contracts to purchase 33,775,000 bushels of grain, 24,200,000 pounds of hogs, 9,390,000 pounds of sugar, 960,000 pounds of soybean oil, 365,000 tons of soybean meal, 264,000 pounds of dry whey powder and 40,000 pounds of cheese. At December 31, 2014, Seaboard had open net derivative contracts to purchase 19,800,000 pounds of hogs, 19,620,000 pounds of soybean oil, 15,551,000 pounds of sugar, 10,697,000 bushels of grain, 88,000 pounds of dry whey powder and 85,000 tons of soybean meal and open net derivative contracts to sell 4,326,000 gallons of heating oil. Commodity derivatives are recorded at fair value with any changes in fair value being marked to market as a component of cost of sales on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income.

Foreign Currency Exchange Agreements

Seaboard enters into foreign currency exchange agreements to manage the foreign currency exchange rate risk with respect to certain transactions denominated in foreign currencies. Foreign currency exchange agreements that were primarily related to an underlying commodity transaction were recorded at fair value with changes in value marked to market as a component of cost of sales on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. Foreign exchange agreements that were not related to an underlying commodity transaction were recorded at fair value with changes in value marked to market as a component of foreign currency losses, net on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income.

At April 4, 2015 and December 31, 2014, Seaboard had trading foreign currency exchange agreements to cover its firm sales and purchase commitments and related trade receivables and payables with net notional amounts of $92,901,000 and $143,961,000, respectively, primarily related to the South African Rand.

Interest Rate Exchange Agreements

During 2014, Seaboard initially put into place four, approximately eight-year interest rate exchange agreements with mandatory early termination dates in the second half of 2014 and early 2015 for one of the agreements. During 2014 and 2015, these interest rate exchange agreements were terminated and replaced, each with a mandatory early termination date which coincides with the revised anticipated delivery dates in 2015 and have similar terms as the original agreements terminated. Payments made by Seaboard to unwind these agreements were not material. These four exchange agreements, still outstanding as of April 4, 2015, involve the exchange of fixed-rate and variable-rate interest payments without the exchange of the underlying notional amounts to mitigate the potential effects of fluctuations in interest rates on the anticipated four dry bulk vessel leases in 2015. Seaboard pays a fixed rate and receives a variable rate of interest on these four notional amounts of $22,000,000 each. In 2010, Seaboard entered into three ten-year interest rate exchange agreements which involve the exchange of fixed-rate and variable-rate interest payments over the life of the agreements without the exchange of the underlying notional amounts to mitigate the effects of fluctuations in interest rates on variable rate debt. Seaboard pays a fixed rate and receives a variable rate of interest on these three notional amounts of $25,000,000 each. All seven of these interest rate exchange agreements do not qualify as hedges for accounting purposes. Accordingly, the changes in fair value of these agreements are recorded in miscellaneous, net in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. At both April 4, 2015 and December 31, 2014, Seaboard had seven interest rate exchange agreements outstanding with a total notional value of $163,000,000.

Counterparty Credit Risk

From time to time Seaboard is subject to counterparty credit risk related to its foreign currency exchange agreements and interest rate swaps, should the counterparties fail to perform according to the terms of the contracts. As of April 4, 2015, Seaboard’s foreign currency exchange agreements have a maximum amount of loss due to credit risk in the amount of $1,039,000 with five counterparties and no such exposures related to the interest rate swaps. Seaboard does not hold any collateral related to these agreements.

The following table provides the amount of gain or (loss) recognized in income for each type of derivative and where it was recognized in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended April 4, 2015 and March 29, 2014.

(Thousands of dollars)
		Three Months Ended
		April 4,		March 29,
		2015		2014
Commodities	Cost of sales	$	(5,948)	$	(6,584)
Foreign currencies	Cost of sales	(494)		485
Foreign currencies	Foreign currency	1,533		765
Interest rate	Miscellaneous, net	(4,691)		(602)

The following table provides the fair value of each type of derivative held as of April 4, 2015 and December 31, 2014 and where each derivative is included on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(Thousands of dollars)		Asset Derivatives					Liability Derivatives
		April 4,		December 31,			April 4,		December 31,
		2015		2014			2015		2014
Commodities(1)	Other current assets	$	4,147	$	6,136	Other current liabilities	$	9,722	$	1,779
Foreign currencies	Other current assets	1,039		1,675		Other current liabilities	424		407
Interest rate	Other current assets	-		-		Other current liabilities	9,256		7,715

(1) Seaboard’s commodities derivative assets and liabilities are presented in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets on a net basis, including netting the derivatives with the related margin accounts. As of April 4, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the commodity derivatives had a margin account balance of $21,752,000 and $4,314,000, respectively, resulting in a net other current asset on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets of $16,612,000 and $9,267,000, respectively and other current liabilities of $435,000 and $596,000, respectively.