Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Market Risk
In general, business enterprises can be exposed to market risks including fluctuations in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates and certain commodity prices, which can affect the cost of operating, investing and financing under those conditions. The Company believes it has moderate exposure to these risks. The Company assesses market risk based on changes in interest rates, foreign currency rates and commodity prices utilizing a sensitivity analysis that measures the potential loss in earnings, fair values and cash flows based on hypothetical changes in rates and prices.
The Company is exposed to interest rate risk on its variable rate debt and price risk on its fixed rate debt. As such, the Company monitors the interest rate environment and uses interest rate swap agreements to manage its interest rate risk and price risk by balancing its exposure to fixed and variable interest rates while attempting to minimize interest costs. At December 31, 2021, approximately $100 million of the Company’s debt carries a variable rate of interest either by nature or through the use of interest rate swaps. The remainder of the debt (approximately $4.8 billion) carries a fixed rate of interest. Based upon the Company’s debt structure at December 31, 2021, a hypothetical 1% increase in these interest rates would increase interest expense by approximately $1 million and decrease the fair value of debt by approximately $283 million.
While the Company transacts business principally in U.S. dollars and most of its revenues are collected in U.S. dollars, a substantial portion of the Company’s operating costs are denominated in other currencies, such as the Brazilian Real, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, European Euro, Japanese Yen and Mexican Peso. Changes in the relation of these and other currencies to the U.S. dollar will affect Company’s sales and profitability and could result in exchange losses. For 2021, approximately 35% of the Company’s sales were denominated in foreign currencies, the most significant of which were: European Euro, approximately 9%; British Pound, approximately 6% and Canadian Dollar, approximately 4%. The primary purpose of the Company’s foreign currency hedging activities is to mitigate the foreign exchange rate exposure on the cash flows related to forecasted inventory purchases and sales. A hypothetical 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates would not have a material effect on foreign currency gains and losses related to the foreign currency derivatives or the net fair value of the Company’s foreign currency derivatives.
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The Company is exposed to the price risk that the rising cost of commodities has on certain of its raw materials. As such, the Company monitors the commodities markets and from time to time the Company enters into commodity-based derivatives in order to mitigate the impact that the rising price of these commodities has on the cost of certain of the Company’s raw materials. A hypothetical 10% change in the commodity prices underlying the derivatives would not have a material effect on the related gains and losses included in the Company’s results of operations. In this sensitivity analysis, all other assumptions are constant and assumes that a change in one currency’s rate relative to the U.S. dollar would not impact another currency’s rates relative to the U.S. dollar.
The Company is exposed to credit loss in the event of non-performance by the counterparties to its derivative financial instruments, all of which are highly rated institutions; however, the Company does not anticipate non-performance by such counterparties. The Company does not enter into derivative financial instruments for trading purposes.
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