Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
The market risk inherent in the Company’s market risk sensitive instruments and positions is the potential loss arising from adverse changes in: commodity market prices as they relate to the Company’s net commodity position, foreign currency exchange rates, and interest rates as described below.
Commodity Price Risk
The availability and prices of agricultural commodities are subject to wide fluctuations due to factors such as changes in weather conditions, crop disease, plantings, government programs and policies, competition, changes in global demand, changes in customer preferences and standards of living, and global production of similar and competitive crops.
The Company uses exchange-traded and OTC commodity instruments to manage its net position of merchandisable agricultural product inventories and forward cash purchase and sales contracts to reduce price risk caused by market fluctuations in agricultural commodities and foreign currencies.
The Company also uses exchange-traded and OTC commodity instruments as components of merchandising strategies designed to enhance margins. The results of these strategies can be significantly impacted by factors such as the correlation between the value of exchange-traded commodities futures and the value of the underlying commodities, counterparty contract defaults, and volatility of freight markets.
In addition, the Company enters into futures contracts and over-the-counter swaps which are designated as hedges of specific volumes of commodities that will be purchased and processed, or sold, in a future month. The changes in the market value of such futures contracts have historically been, and are expected to continue to be, highly effective at offsetting changes in price movements of the hedged item. Gains and losses arising from open and closed designated hedging transactions are deferred in other comprehensive income, net of applicable taxes, and recognized as a component of cost of products sold or revenues in the statement of earnings when the hedged item is recognized.
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PART II
The Company’s commodity position consists of merchandisable agricultural commodity inventories, related purchase and sales contracts, energy and freight contracts, and exchange-traded and over-the-counter commodity instruments, including contracts used to hedge anticipated transactions. The fair value of the Company’s commodity position is a summation of the fair values calculated for each commodity by valuing all of the commodity positions at quoted market prices for the period, where available, or utilizing a close proxy. The weekly highest, lowest, and average long (short) positions, for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 together with a risk of a hypothetical 10% adverse price change in market prices is as follows (in millions):
December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Fair Value Market Risk Fair Value Market Risk
Highest position $ 541 $ 54 $ 543 $ 54
Lowest position (37) (4) (265) (27)
Average position 279 28 168 17
The Company monitors market risk exposure through various metrics such as volumetric limits and the value-at-risk (VaR) limits. Volumetric limits are monitored on a daily basis. VaR and related sensitivity analysis, measuring the potential loss in fair value resulting from a hypothetical 10% adverse change in market prices, is monitored on a weekly basis.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
The Company has consolidated subsidiaries in more than 75 countries. For the majority of the Company’s subsidiaries located outside the United States, the local currency is the functional currency except certain significant subsidiaries in Switzerland where Euro is the functional currency, and Brazil and Argentina where U.S. dollar is the functional currency. To reduce the risks associated with foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, the Company enters into currency exchange contracts to minimize its foreign currency position related to transactions denominated primarily in Euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, and Brazilian real currencies. These currencies represent the major functional or local currencies in which recurring business transactions occur. The Company also uses currency exchange contracts and foreign currency denominated debt as hedges against amounts indefinitely invested in foreign subsidiaries and affiliates. The currency exchange contracts used are forward contracts, swaps with banks, exchange-traded futures contracts, and over-the-counter options. The changes in market value of such contracts have a high correlation to the price changes in the currency of the related transactions. The potential loss in fair value for such net currency position resulting from a hypothetical 10% adverse change in foreign currency exchange rates is not material.
Interest Rate Risk
The fair value of the Company’s long-term debt is estimated using quoted market prices, where available, and discounted future cash flows based on the Company’s current incremental borrowing rates for similar types of borrowing arrangements. Market risk is estimated as the potential increase in fair value resulting from a hypothetical 50 basis points decrease in interest rates. Actual results may differ.
December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
(In millions)
Fair value of long-term debt $ 6,309 $ 7,055
Fair value amount (under) carrying value
(271) (501)
Market risk 317 271
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