Venezuela - Foreign Currency and Inflation (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 28, 2019

Foreign Currency [Abstract]

Venezuela - Foreign Currency and Inflation

Venezuela - Foreign Currency and Inflation

We have a subsidiary in Venezuela that manufactures and sells a variety of products, primarily in the condiments and sauces and infant and nutrition categories. We apply highly inflationary accounting to the results of our Venezuelan subsidiary and include these results in our consolidated financial statements. Under highly inflationary accounting, the functional currency of our Venezuelan subsidiary is the U.S. dollar (the reporting currency of Kraft Heinz), although the majority of its transactions are in Venezuelan bolivars. As a result, we must revalue the results of our Venezuelan subsidiary to U.S. dollars.

As of December 28, 2019, companies and individuals are allowed to use an auction-based system at private and public banks to obtain foreign currency. This is the only foreign currency exchange mechanism legally available to us for converting Venezuelan bolivars to U.S. dollars. Published daily by the Banco Central de Venezuela, the exchange rate (“BCV Rate”) is calculated as the weighted average rate of participating banking institutions with active exchange operations. We believe the BCV Rate is the most appropriate legally available rate at which to translate the results of our Venezuelan subsidiary. Therefore, we revalue the income statement using the weighted average BCV Rates, and we revalue the bolivar-denominated monetary assets and liabilities at the period-end BCV Rate. The resulting revaluation gains and losses are recorded in current net income/(loss), rather than accumulated other comprehensive income/(losses). These gains and losses are classified within other expense/(income) as nonmonetary currency devaluation on our consolidated statements of income.

The BCV Rate at December 28, 2019 was BsS45,874.81 per U.S. dollar compared to BsS638.18 at December 29, 2018. The weighted average rate was BsS13,955.68 for 2019, BsS25.06 for 2018, and BsS0.02 for 2017. Remeasurements of the bolivar-denominated monetary assets and liabilities and operating results of our Venezuelan subsidiary at BCV Rates resulted in nonmonetary currency devaluation losses of $10 million in 2019, $146 million in 2018, and $36 million in 2017. These losses were recorded in other expense/(income) in the consolidated statements of income.

Our Venezuelan subsidiary obtains U.S. dollars through private and public bank auctions, royalty payments, and exports. These U.S. dollars are primarily used for purchases of tomato paste and spare parts for manufacturing, as well as a limited amount of other operating costs. As of December 28, 2019, our Venezuelan subsidiary had sufficient U.S. dollars to fund these operational needs in the foreseeable future. However, further deterioration of the economic environment or regulation changes could jeopardize our export business.

In addition to the bank auctions described above, there is an unofficial market for obtaining U.S. dollars with Venezuelan bolivars. The exact exchange rate is widely debated but is generally accepted to be substantially higher than the latest published BCV Rate. We have not transacted at any unofficial market rates and have no plans to transact at unofficial market rates in the foreseeable future.

Our results of operations in Venezuela reflect a controlled subsidiary. However, the continuing economic uncertainty, strict labor laws, and evolving government controls over imports, prices, currency exchange, and payments present a challenging operating environment. Increased restrictions imposed by the Venezuelan government along with further deterioration of the economic environment could impact our ability to control our Venezuelan operations and could lead us to deconsolidate our Venezuelan subsidiary in the future.