Derivatives

The Company’s operations are exposed to market risks relating to commodity prices that affect the Company’s cost of raw materials, finished product prices, energy costs and the risk of changes in interest rates.

The Company makes limited use of derivative instruments to manage cash flow risks related to interest expense, natural gas usage, diesel fuel usage and inventory. The Company does not use derivative instruments for trading purposes. Interest rate swaps are entered into with the intent of managing overall borrowing costs by reducing the potential impact of increases in interest rates on floating-rate long-term debt. Natural gas swaps and options are entered into with the intent of managing the overall cost of natural gas usage by reducing the potential impact of seasonal weather demands on natural gas that increases natural gas prices. Heating oil swaps and options are entered into with the intent of managing the overall cost of diesel fuel usage by reducing the potential impact of seasonal weather demands on diesel fuel that increases diesel fuel prices. Inventory swaps and options are entered into with the intent of managing seasonally high concentrations of MBM, PM, BFT, PG, YG and BBP inventories and managing forecasted sales of BBP by reducing the potential impact of changing prices. At March 30, 2013, the Company had corn option contracts and natural gas swaps outstanding that qualified and were designated for hedge accounting as well as heating oil swaps and corn future contracts that did not qualify and were not designated for hedge accounting.

Entities are required to report all derivative instruments in the statement of financial position at fair value. The accounting for changes in the fair value (i.e., gains or losses) of a derivative instrument depends on whether it has been designated and qualifies as part of a hedging relationship and, if so, on the reason for holding the instrument. If certain conditions are met, entities may elect to designate a derivative instrument as a hedge of exposures to changes in fair value, cash flows or foreign currencies. If the hedged exposure is a cash flow exposure, the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative instrument is reported initially as a component of other comprehensive income (outside of earnings) and is subsequently reclassified into earnings when the forecasted transaction affects earnings. Any amounts excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness, as well as the ineffective portion of the gain or loss are reported in earnings immediately. If the derivative instrument is not designated as a hedge, the gain or loss is recognized in earnings in the period of change.

Cash Flow Hedges

On May 19, 2006, the Company entered into two interest rate swap agreements that were considered cash flow hedges according to FASB authoritative guidance. In December 2010, as a result of the execution of the Credit Agreement, the term loan that specifically related to these interest swap transactions was repaid. As such, the Company discontinued the interest rate swaps and paid approximately $2.0 million representing the fair value of these two interest swap transactions at the discontinuance date with the effective portion recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss to be reclassified to income over the remaining original term of the interest swaps which ended April 7, 2012.

In fiscal 2012 and the first three months of fiscal 2013, the Company entered into natural gas swap contracts that are considered cash flow hedges. Under the terms of the natural gas swap contracts, the Company fixed the expected purchase cost of a portion of its plants' forecasted natural gas usage into the second quarter of fiscal 2013. As of March 30, 2013, some of the contracts have expired and settled according to the contracts while the remaining contract positions and activity are disclosed below.

In fiscal 2012 and the first three months of fiscal 2013, the Company entered into corn option contracts that are considered cash flow hedges. Under the terms of the corn option contracts, the Company hedged a portion of its forecasted sales of BBP into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. As of March 30, 2013, some of the contracts have settled while the remaining contract positions and activity are disclosed below. From time to time, the Company may enter into corn option contracts in the future.

The Company estimates the amount that will be reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive gain at March 30, 2013 into earnings over the next 12 months will be approximately $2.1 million. As of March 30, 2013, no amounts have been reclassified into earnings as a result of the discontinuance of cash flow hedges.

The following table presents the fair value of the Company’s derivative instruments under FASB authoritative guidance as of March 30, 2013 and December 29, 2012 (in thousands):



Derivatives Designated	Balance Sheet	Asset Derivatives Fair Value
as Hedges	Location	March 30, 2013		December 29, 2012
Corn options	Other current assets	$	2,404	$	490
Natural gas swaps	Other current assets	129		11

Total asset derivatives designated as hedges		$	2,533	$	501

Derivatives Not Designated as Hedges
Heating oil swaps and options	Other current assets	$	74	$	104
Corn futures	Other current assets	498		117

Total asset derivatives not designated as hedges		$	572	$	221

Total asset derivatives		$	3,105	$	722



Derivatives Designated	Balance Sheet	Liability Derivatives Fair Value
as Hedges	Location	March 30, 2013		December 29, 2012
Natural gas swaps	Accrued expenses	$	—	$	21

Total liability derivatives designated as hedges		$	—	$	21

Derivatives Not Designated as Hedges
Heating oil swaps and options	Accrued expenses	$	11	$	4
Corn options	Accrued expenses	—		119

Total liability derivatives not designated as hedges		$	11	$	123

Total liability derivatives		$	11	$	144

The effect of the Company’s derivative instruments on the consolidated financial statements as of and for the three months ended March 30, 2013 and March 31, 2012 is as follows (in thousands):



Derivatives Designated as Cash Flow Hedges	Gain or (Loss) Recognized in OCI on Derivatives (Effective Portion) (a)					Gain or (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion) (b)						Gain or (Loss) Recognized in Income on Derivatives (Ineffective Portion and Amount Excluded from Effectiveness Testing) (c)
	2013		2012			2013			2012			2013			2012
Interest rate swaps	$	—	$	—		$	—		$	(232	)	$	—		$	—
Corn options	1,591		—			42			—			254			—
Natural gas swaps	184		(700		)	(57		)	(713		)	(1		)	3

Total	$	1,775	$	(700	)	$	(15	)	$	(945	)	$	253		$	3


(a)	Amount recognized in accumulated OCI (effective portion) is reported as accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss) of approximately $1.8 million and approximately $0.7 million recorded net of taxes of approximately $0.7 million and $0.3 million as of March 30, 2013 and March 31, 2012, respectively.


(b)	Gains and (losses) reclassified from accumulated OCI into income (effective portion) for interest rate swaps is included in interest expense and corn options and natural gas swaps are included in cost of sales, respectively, in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.


(c)	Gains and (losses) recognized in income on derivatives (ineffective portion) for interest rate swaps, corn options and natural gas swaps is included in other income/(expense), net in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

At March 30, 2013, the Company had forward purchase agreements in place for purchases of approximately $4.4 million of natural gas and diesel fuel. These forward purchase agreements have no net settlement provisions and the Company intends to take physical delivery of the underlying product. Accordingly, the forward purchase agreements are not subject to the requirements of fair value accounting because they qualify and the Company has elected to account for these as normal purchases as defined in the FASB authoritative guidance.