DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

Derivative Financial Instruments

Commodities — We are exposed to commodity price fluctuations, including milk, butterfat, sweeteners and other commodity costs used in the manufacturing, packaging and distribution of our products, such as natural gas, resin and diesel fuel. To secure adequate supplies of materials and bring greater stability to the cost of ingredients and their related manufacturing, packaging and distribution, we routinely enter into forward purchase contracts and other purchase arrangements with suppliers. Under the forward purchase contracts, we commit to purchasing agreed-upon quantities of ingredients and commodities at agreed-upon prices at specified future dates. The outstanding purchase commitment for these commodities at any point in time typically ranges from one month’s to one year’s anticipated requirements, depending on the ingredient or commodity. These contracts are considered normal purchases.

In addition to entering into forward purchase contracts, from time to time we may purchase over-the-counter contracts from our qualified banking partners or enter into exchange-traded commodity futures contracts for raw materials that are ingredients of our products or components of such ingredients. Effective January 1, 2014, we have de-designated all open commodity derivative positions that were previously designated as cash flow hedges. During the first quarter of 2014, we reclassified $0.2 million, net of tax, of hedging activity related to these commodities contracts from accumulated other comprehensive income into operating income. All commodities contracts are now marked to market in our income statement at each reporting period and a derivative asset or liability is recorded on our Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Although we may utilize forward purchase contracts and other instruments to mitigate the risks related to commodity price fluctuation, such strategies do not fully mitigate commodity price risk. Adverse movements in commodity prices over the terms of the contracts or instruments could decrease the economic benefits we derive from these strategies. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, our derivatives recorded at fair value in our Consolidated Balance Sheets were:



	Derivative Assets				Derivative Liabilities
	December 31, 2015		December 31, 2014		December 31, 2015		December 31, 2014
	(In thousands)
Derivatives not designated as Hedging Instruments
Commodities contracts — current(1)	$	317	$	2	$	10,023	$	4,392
Commodities contracts — non-current(2)	—		—		690		—
Total derivatives	$	317	$	2	$	10,713	$	4,392


(1)	Derivative assets and liabilities that have settlement dates equal to or less than 12 months from the respective balance sheet date were included in other current assets and accounts payable and accrued expenses, respectively, in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.


(2)	Derivative assets and liabilities that have settlement dates greater than 12 months from the respective balance sheet date were included in other assets and other long-term liabilities, respectively, in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Gains and losses on derivatives designated as cash flow hedges reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income into income were as follows (in thousands):



	December 31, 2013
Losses on interest rate swap contracts(1)	$	94,832
(Gains)/losses on commodities contracts(2)	1,046
(Gains)/losses on foreign currency contracts(3)	(78		)


(1)	Recorded in interest expense in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.


(2)	Recorded in selling and distribution or cost of sales, depending on commodity type, in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.


(3)	Recorded in cost of sales in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. As a basis for considering assumptions, we follow a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value as follows:


•	Level 1 — Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets.


•	Level 2 — Quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active and model-derived valuations, in which all significant inputs are observable in active markets.


•	Level 3 — Unobservable inputs in which there is little or no market data, which require the reporting entity to develop its own assumptions.

A summary of our derivative assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2015 is as follows (in thousands):



	Fair Value as of December 31, 2015		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets — Commodities contracts	$	317	$	—	$	317	$	—
Liabilities — Commodities contracts	10,713		—		10,713		—

A summary of our derivative assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2014 is as follows (in thousands):



	Fair Value as of December 31, 2014		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets — Commodities contracts	$	2	$	—	$	2	$	—
Liabilities — Commodities contracts	4,392		—		4,392		—

Due to their near-term maturities, the carrying amounts of accounts receivable and accounts payable are considered equivalent to fair value. In addition, because the interest rates on our senior secured credit facility, our prior credit facility, receivables-backed facility, and certain other debt are variable, their fair values approximate their carrying values.

The fair values of our Dean Foods Company senior notes and subsidiary senior notes were determined based on quoted market prices obtained through an external pricing source which derives its price valuations from daily marketplace transactions, with adjustments to reflect the spreads of benchmark bonds, credit risk and certain other variables. We have determined these fair values to be Level 2 measurements as all significant inputs into the quotes provided by our pricing source are observable in active markets. The following table presents the carrying values and fair values of our senior and subsidiary senior notes at December 31:



	2015				2014
	Carrying Value		Fair Value		Carrying Value		Fair Value
	(In thousands)
Dean Foods Company senior notes due 2023	$	700,000	$	726,250	$	—	$	—
Dean Foods Company senior notes due 2016	—		—		475,819		507,140
Subsidiary senior notes due 2017	137,213		148,745		134,913		151,230

Additionally, we maintain a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”), which is a nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement for our executive officers and other employees earning compensation in excess of the maximum compensation that can be taken into account with respect to our 401(k) plan. The SERP is designed to provide these employees with retirement benefits from us that are equivalent, as a percentage of total compensation, to the benefits provided to other employees. The assets related to this plan are primarily invested in money market and mutual funds and are held at fair value. We classify these assets as Level 2 as fair value can be corroborated based on quoted market prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active. The following table presents a summary of the SERP assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2015 (in thousands):



	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Money market	$	4	$	—	$	4	$	—
Mutual funds	1,506		—		1,506		—

The following table presents a summary of the SERP assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2014 (in thousands):



	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Money market	$	12	$	—	$	12	$	—
Mutual funds	1,929		—		1,929		—