The Company utilizes various raw materials in its operations, including corn, soybean meal, soybean oil, wheat, natural gas, electricity and diesel fuel, which are all considered commodities. The Company considers these raw materials generally available from a number of different sources and believes it can obtain them to meet its requirements. These commodities are subject to price fluctuations and related price risk due to factors beyond our control, such as economic and political conditions, supply and demand, weather, governmental regulation and other circumstances. Generally, the Company purchases derivative financial instruments, specifically exchange-traded futures and options, in an attempt to mitigate price risk related to its anticipated consumption of commodity inputs for approximately the next twelve months. The Company may purchase longer-term derivative financial instruments on particular commodities if deemed appropriate.

The Company has operations in Mexico, the U.K., France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, it has exposure to translational foreign exchange risk when the financial results of those operations are remeasured in U.S. dollars. The Company has purchased foreign currency forward contracts to manage this translational foreign exchange risk.

The Company has exposure to variability in cash flows from interest payments due to the use of variable interest rates on certain long-term debt arrangements in the U.S. reportable segment. The Company has purchased an interest rate swap contract to convert the variable interest rate to a fixed interest rate on a portion of its outstanding long-term debt arrangements in order to manage this interest rate risk and add stability to interest expense and cash flows. There is not an outstanding interest rate swap contract at the end of the reporting year because this interest rate contract expired during the second quarter.

The fair value of derivative assets is included in the line item Prepaid expenses and other current assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets while the fair value of derivative liabilities is included in the line item Accrued expenses and other current liabilities on the same statements. The Company’s counterparties require that it post collateral for changes in the net fair value of the derivative contracts. This cash collateral is reported in the line item Restricted cash and cash equivalents on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Undesignated contracts may include contracts not designated as a hedge or for which the normal purchase normal sales (“NPNS”) exception was not elected, contracts that do not qualify for hedge accounting and derivatives that do not or no longer qualify for the NPNS scope exception. The fair value of each of these derivatives is recognized in the Consolidated Balance Sheets within Prepaid expenses and other current assets or Accrued expenses and other current liabilities. Changes in fair value of each derivative are recognized immediately in the Consolidated Statements of Income within Net sales, Cost of sales, SG&A expense, or Foreign currency transaction losses (gains) depending on the risk the derivative is intended to mitigate. While management believes these instruments help mitigate various market risks, they are not designated and accounted for as hedges as a result of the extensive record keeping requirements.

The Company has elected not to apply the NPNS exemption to a fixed-price product sales contract with a certain customer in order to mitigate various risk exposures and to try to achieve an accounting result that aligns the accounting for the derivative with the economics achieved through the use of the derivative. Transactions originating from this contact are accounted for as undesignated derivatives and recognized at fair value.

The Company does not apply hedge accounting treatment to certain derivative financial instruments that it has purchased to mitigate commodity purchase exposures in the U.S. and Mexico or foreign currency transaction exposures on our Mexico operations. Therefore, the Company recognized changes in the fair value of these derivative financial instruments immediately in earnings. Gains or losses related to the commodity derivative financial instruments are included in the line item Cost of sales in the Consolidated Statements of Income. Gains or losses related to the foreign currency derivative financial instruments are included in the line item Foreign currency transaction losses (gains) and Cost of sales in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

The Company does apply hedge accounting to certain derivative financial instruments related to its U.K. and Europe reportable segment that it has purchased to mitigate foreign currency transaction exposures. Before the settlement date of the financial derivative instruments, the Company recognizes changes in the fair value of the cash flow hedge into accumulated other comprehensive loss (“AOCL”). When the derivative financial instruments are settled, the amount in AOCL is then reclassified to earnings. Gains or losses related to these derivative financial instruments are included in the line items Net sales and Cost of sales in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

The Company does apply hedge accounting to a derivative financial instrument related to its U.S. reportable segment that it has purchased to mitigate variable interest rate exposures. The interest rate swap has monthly settlement dates. Upon each settlement date, the Company recognizes changes in the fair value of the cash flow hedge into AOCL. Upon settlement of the derivative instrument, the amount in AOCL is then reclassified to earnings. Gains or losses related to the interest rate swap derivative financial instrument are included in the line item Interest expense, net of capitalized interest in the Consolidated Statements of Income.


	December 25, 2022			December 26, 2021
	(Fair values in thousands)
Fair values:
Commodity derivative assets	$	17,922		$	17,567
Commodity derivative liabilities	(9,042)			(14,119)
Foreign currency derivative assets	555			518
Foreign currency derivative liabilities	(6,170)			(4,958)
Interest rate swap derivative liabilities	—			(98)
Sales contract derivative liabilities	(3,705)			(12,691)
Cash collateral posted with brokers(a)	33,771			22,459
Derivatives Coverage(b):
Corn	14.4		%	6.6		%
Soybean meal	10.1		%	11.8		%
Period through which stated percent of needs are covered:
Corn	December 2023			December 2022
Soybean meal	December 2023			December 2022


Type of Contract (a)	December 25, 2022		December 26, 2021		December 27, 2020		Affected Line Item in the Consolidated Statements of Income
Foreign currency derivatives gain (loss)	$	(35,586)	$	12,806	$	(6,637)	Foreign currency transaction losses (gains)
Commodity derivative gain (loss)	53,899		50,404		47,554		Cost of sales
Sales contract derivative gain (loss)	8,985		(12,691)		(209)		Net sales
Total	$	27,298	$	50,519	$	40,708


	Gain (Loss) Recognized in Other Comprehensive Loss
	December 25, 2022		December 26, 2021		December 27, 2020
	(In thousands)
Foreign currency derivatives	$	1,719	$	471	$	4,514
Interest rate swap derivatives	98		(88)		(850)
Total	$	1,817	$	383	$	3,664


	Gain (Loss) Reclassified from AOCL into Income
	December 25, 2022						December 26, 2021
	Net sales(a)		Cost of sales(b)		Interest expense, net of capitalized interest(b)		Net sales(a)		Cost of sales(b)		Interest expense, net of capitalized interest(b)
	(In thousands)
Total amounts of income and expense line items presented in the Consolidated Statements of Income in which the effects of cash flow hedges are recorded	$	17,468,377	$	15,656,574	$	152,672	$	14,777,458	$	13,411,631	$	145,792
Impact from cash flow hedging instruments:
Interest rates swap derivatives	—		—		98		—		—		631
Foreign currency derivatives	(3,194)		851		—		1,372		(55)		—

As of December 25, 2022, there were immaterial pre-tax deferred net losses on foreign currency derivatives recorded in AOCL that are expected to be reclassified to the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income during the next twelve months.. This expectation is based on the anticipated settlements on the hedged investments in foreign currencies that will occur over the next twelve months, at which time the Company will recognize the deferred losses to earnings.