Ingredion Incorporated

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2021 Ingredient Incorporated earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I will now hand the conference over to your speaker today, Tiffany Willis, Vice President, Investor Relations, and Corporate Communications Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Carmen. Good morning, and welcome to Ingredient's first quarter 2021 earnings call. I'm Tiffany Willis, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Officer. On today's call are Jim Zally, our President and CEO, and Jim Gray, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We issued our results today in a press release that can be found on our website, ingredient.com, in the investor section. The slides accompanying this presentation can also be found on the website and were posted today for your convenience. As a reminder, our comments within this presentation may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These statements include expectations and assumptions regarding the company's future operations and financial performance. including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Actual results could differ materially from those predicted in the forward-looking statement, and Ingredion assumes no obligation to update them in the future as or if circumstances change. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed during today's conference call or in this morning's press release can be found in the company's most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. During this call, we also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings per share, adjusted operating income, and adjusted effective tax rates, which are reconciled to U.S. GAAP measures in Note 2, non-GAAP information included in our press release and in today's presentation's appendix. And with that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Jim Vallee.

Thank you, Tiffany, and good morning, everyone. We started the year off very well, delivering excellent financial results in the quarter and positioning us for an exceptionally strong first half. For the quarter, global net sales were up 5% compared to the year-ago period. The increase was driven by higher volumes in Asia Pacific and South America, as well as the inclusion of Pure Circle. Adjusted operating income for the quarter was up in all four regions, led by exceptionally strong performance in South America, which was up 20% year over year. Our execution in Asia Pacific was excellent, as we began to lap the impacts of the pandemic from the prior year. North America also grew operating income by 7%, benefiting from lower net corn costs and the delivery of substantial cost-smart savings. Notably, volumes in North America continue to recover from the impact of last year's COVID-19 restrictions. Global net sales growth of 5% was led by Asia Pacific, where a combination of the inclusion of Pure Circle sales, organic growth, and the lapping of prior year COVID-19 impacts contributed to 24% net sales growth. South America had a fantastic quarter with year-over-year growth of 15%, followed by EMEA with 5% growth. North America closed the quarter with net sales down slightly, reflecting food service traffic that is picking up but has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. We continue to make progress against our strategic pillars and are pleased to share some highlights with you. Specialty ingredients remain a bright spot, with particularly strong net sales growth in both Asia Pacific and South America. The Pure Circle and Verdient acquisitions are enabling us to capitalize on growth opportunities in sugar reduction and plant-based foods, with significant year-over-year net sales growth achieved in both platforms. In the first quarter, we strengthened the strategic pillar of commercial excellence by introducing our customer-focused Be What's Next brand positionings. This reflects our passion and mission to innovate and co-create with our customers to bring them new and novel ideas and solutions. Jim will address our progress on cost smart in his remarks, and I will expand later on how our team is reimagining the future of work with customer centricity, speed, and agility. Now, let me share with you some exciting highlights from our plant-based protein growth platform. In March, we virtually welcomed more than 700 attendees, including over 500 customers from 28 countries to our South Sioux City manufacturing facility, which produces pulse-based protein isolates. We were delighted with the breadth of ingredient interest, requests for samples, and new product development opportunities, which has come from the many discussions we have had with new and existing customers. These activities, along with a growing sales pipeline, are exciting leading indicators for future sales growth. We are also pleased to report that we are in the final stages of completing mechanical and operations testing and obtaining food grade certification at our Van Scoy plant for our new range of pulse-based protein flours and concentrates. Our ability to formulate with and supply a complete range of protein-based flours, concentrates, and isolates makes us an attractive development partner to fast-growing plant-based foods companies. On April 1st, we completed the acquisition of KTEC, headquartered in Lubeck, Germany, which is very close to our European headquarters in Hamburg. We are pleased to welcome this innovative team of creative application specialists who develop customized ingredient blends that enhance texture and provide stabilization, particularly in dairy, dairy alternatives, bakery, and savory applications. KTEC is a great acquisition that complements our existing specialty ingredient portfolio. It expands our food systems platform with a comprehensive suite of innovative capabilities that assist food and beverage manufacturers with product formulation, ingredient functionality and technical assistance. It also adds a European hub to complement our existing U.S. and Asia food systems operations. Yesterday, we announced an exciting, exclusive manufacturing, marketing, and sales partnership with a leading synthetic biotechnology company, Ameris, to produce and market a great-tasting sugar reduction ingredient, REBM, which is derived from fermentation. The Ameris relationship makes for a powerful combination of with their leading technology and ability to develop, scale, and produce fermentation-based products combined with Ingredion's global customer reach and formulation capabilities. Adding a fermented RebM product to our existing PureCircle sugar reduction portfolio now provides Ingredion with the most comprehensive trifecta of leaf extract and bioconverted stevia and fermented RebM in the world. This enables us to meet the growing needs of a global customer base that is looking now for ways to reduce sugar without compromising taste. Our relationship with Amaris may include, over time, other R&D collaborations to manufacture and market additional fermentation-based food ingredients. As we are reimagining the future of work, we are doing so with a customer-centric mindset and a focus on speed and agility. The pandemic has enabled us to reposition how we engage with our customers. Because all of us are relying more on digital tools and digital connections, this opens a window for us to become more efficient and intimate with our customers. We've recently relaunched our global website and are expanding our customer portals. We are actively working toward providing greater availability of on-demand technical service, live chat, and virtual co-creations. This reinvention of the way we work affords us a great opportunity to improve productivity and do so in a manner that supports customer satisfaction and high employee engagement. Now, let me hand it off to Jim Gray, who will provide a financial review.

Thank you, Jim. North America net sales were down slightly for the quarter when compared to the prior year. This was partially driven by the cessation of ethanol production at our Cedar Rapids plant, as well as continuing volume recovery as our customers' demand returns from the effects of the pandemic on consumer mobility. North America operating income was $134 million, up 7% versus the prior year. The increase was driven by lower net corn costs due to higher coproduct values realized during the quarter, favorable price mix, and lower operating expenses. South American net sales were up 15% versus prior year. Absent foreign exchange, sales were up 25%, driven by favorable price mix, including the pass-through of higher corn costs and higher volumes. South America operating income was $40 million, up 54% versus prior year, as favorable price mix more than offset higher net corn costs and foreign exchange impacts. Excluding foreign exchange impacts, adjusted operating income was up 65% in the quarter. Moving to Asia Pacific, net sales were up 24% in the quarter, driven by the inclusion of PureCircle. Excluding Pure Circle, Asia Pacific net sales were up 13%, benefiting from higher volumes as the region was lapping reduced demand from COVID-19 lockdowns in the first quarter of last year. Asia Pacific operating income was $25 million, up 25% versus prior year, which includes a $2 million operating loss for Pure Circle. Excluding Pure Circle, First quarter operating income was $27 million, up $7 million from the year-ago period, driven by the recovery of the South Korea and China businesses. In EMEA, net sales increased 5% for the quarter. The increase was due to favorable foreign exchange in Europe and price mix gains in Pakistan, which included the pass-through of higher corn costs. EMEA operating income was $31 million, up 15% for the quarter. The increase was driven by better price mix and lower net corn costs in Pakistan. Net sales of $1,614 million were up 5% for the quarter versus prior year. Gross profit margin was 21.7%, up 80 basis points. Reported Operating Income was a loss of $170 million, and Adjusted Operating Income was a positive $201 million. Reported Operating Income was lower than Adjusted Operating Income due to the Help for Sale Impairment Charge related to the RCOR joint venture in Argentina, which is anticipated to close in the third quarter of this year. Our reported loss per share was a negative $3.66, and adjusted earnings per share was a positive $1.85. Turning to our Q1 net sales bridge, a sales volume decrease of $16 million was driven by the continuing recovery of demand impacted by the pandemic in North America and Europe, as well as the cessation of ethanol production at our Cedar Rapids plant. These decreases were partially offset by higher volumes in Asia Pacific and South America and the inclusion of pure circle results. Favorable price mix of $86 million was largely attributable to pricing actions in South America and North America, including the pass-through of higher corn costs. Notably, our South America team has been able to achieve better price mix versus the foreign exchange losses and Q1. Turning to net sales variance by region, in North America, net sales were down slightly versus prior year, as lower volumes were partially offset by favorable price mix. South American net sales were up 15%, driven by a price mix increase of 21%, which more than offset foreign exchange weakness. In Asia Pacific, net sales were up 24%, driven by the inclusion of pure circle volumes and higher specialty volumes across the region. EMEA net sales were up 5%, driven by favorable foreign exchange in Europe and favorable price mix in Pakistan. For the quarter, reported operating income decreased $323 million, while adjusted operating income increased $34 million. The decrease in reported operating income versus adjusted operating income is primarily due to the held-for-sale impairment charge related to the ARCOR joint venture in Argentina. As Jim has highlighted, operating income was up in all four regions. Corporate costs and total operating expense for the company were down for the quarter when compared to prior year, driven by our cost-smart savings program. Turning to our earnings bridge, on the left side of the page, you can see the reconciliation from reported to adjusted. On the right side, operationally, we saw an increase of 36 cents per share for the quarter. The increase was driven by margin improvement of 33 cents, other income of 4 cents, and foreign exchange of a penny, which were partially offset by negative 2 cents of lower volumes. Moving to our non-operational items, we saw a decrease of 10 cents per share for the quarter, primarily driven by a higher tax rate of 7 cents per share. Moving to cash flow, year-to-date cash provided by operations was $22 million. Cash provided by operations decreased versus prior year, driven by the impact of higher net sales on inventories and accounts receivables in working capital. Capital expenditures were $63 million, down $35 million from the prior year period due to the timing of payments for investments in our growth projects. We repurchased $14 million shares of outstanding common stock during the quarter. At quarter end, cash and cash equivalents were $576 million. For the second quarter, the company anticipates net sales to be up between 20% and 30%. and adjusted operating income to be up more than net sales growth as we begin to lap prior year impacts of COVID-19 in North America, South America, and EMEA. We expect net sales volume will continue to recover with increases in consumer activity and the pace and effectiveness of vaccine distribution. For our regional outlook, we expect the following for second quarter when compared to the prior year. North America net sales to be up 15 to 25 percent. Operating income expected to be up slightly more than net sales growth. In South America, we expect net sales to be up 35 to 45 percent, and operating income to be up significantly more than net sales growth. In Asia Pacific, we anticipate net sales to be up more than 30 percent versus the prior year, driven by the inclusion of Pure Circle. and the pass-through of higher corn costs. We expect operating income to be down. Finally, for EMEA, we expect net sales to be up 20% to 30% and operating income to be up in line with net sales growth. For the full year, the company anticipates net sales to be up low double digits, driven by strong price mix and the pass-through of higher corn costs. We expect adjusted operating income to be up mid-single digits, driven by specialty ingredients growth, other volume recovery, and cost smart savings, which will be partially offset by higher net corn costs in the second half of the year. Assumed in our full-year perspective, we have accounted for the rise in the cost of corn to the $6 per bushel range and are largely hedged. As a result, for the remainder of the year, we have limited margin exposure to higher corn costs for our U.S. and Canada fixed-priced contracts for customers. Full-year corporate costs are expected to be flat. We anticipate our reported tax rate to be 70% to 75% and adjusted effective tax rate to be 28% to 29%. For the full year, capital investment commitments are expected to be between $330 and $350 million, of which more than $100 million is being invested to drive specialty growth. Due to the uncertain environment, the company is not currently providing guidance for the full year 2021 EPS, nor cash flow from operations. With that, let me turn the call back to Jim Salley.

Thanks, Jim. Our strong financial performance is validation of our roadmap for value creation. Our roadmap serves as our compass and has us centered on driving value for our stakeholders. In the quarter, we held our second virtual global growth summit with our top leaders to align on the ways Ingredion will continue to identify, execute, and capture growth opportunities. Despite the continued challenges from an uneven economic recovery around the world, we have been and will remain directed by our roadmap as we deliver on our goals and against shareholder expectations. In line with our values and our purpose, we continue to elevate our commitment to sustainability as we see it as the way of doing business the right way for the long term. Having a comprehensive approach to ESG is vital to Ingredion, and this is why it was featured prominently in our Vision 2025 goals, which we shared earlier this year at Cagney. We are committed to sustainably source 100% of our Tier 1 priority crops by 2025. These crops are corn, rice, tapioca, potatoes, stevia, and pulses, and collectively they represent about 99% of our global crop sourcing by volume. In addition, we are scaling regenerative agricultural practices with customers in a farmer-centric and outcomes-driven manner. Achieving these goals will position us as a preferred supplier that brings strategic value to customers and will ultimately drive value for our shareholders. Next week, we will release our annual update to our 2030 All Life Plan, which will highlight our sustainability progress and accomplishments. Now, let's open the call for questions.

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound or hash key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A rosters. Our first question is from the line of Robert Moscow with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for the question. Just about the outlook, Jim and Jim, you know, it indicates a slower pace of operating income growth in the next three quarters than I think what consensus had in mind. And you also mentioned that you're now taking into account $6 corn in your outlook. I imagine that that's higher than what you had expected originally. And now that you're fully hedged, does your outlook now incorporate a slightly lower expectation for profit growth because of the hedges you had to put in to lock things up? Or is it something different? Thanks.

Jim, do you want to take that? Yeah. Hi, Rob. Good morning. Maybe just to begin, so for the first quarter, and anticipated in the second quarter. Our North America gross corn costs were held in line with our business plan when we started in the fall, and we've benefited from higher co-product values. In addition, the team really executed well in the first quarter. As it relates to the second half, we would remind you that we saw volume recovery in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, and we benefited from very favorable net corn costs in the second half of last year. So our full-year perspective this year considers the more challenging comparison to the second half of 2020. And then, as I said, assumed in our full-year perspective, we have accounted for that rise in the corn costs and the corn futures to around that $6 per bushel range. Obviously, we lay out our hedges in Q3 and Q4, but we're largely hedged. And that was higher than what we anticipated, I think, in the beginning of the year. And so that's what is, you know, that's what's putting some of the pressure against our second half of operating income in our perspective.

Okay. Got it. I'll get back in the queue. Thanks. Okay.

Our next question comes from Ben Ben Benu with Stephens. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning.

Hey, Ben. Good morning, Ben.

I want to follow up on Rob's question about corn. You noted that you hedged your corn at around $6. Does that include having secured or locked in basis as well for the back half of the year? And then what does your renewed outlook reflect relative to co-product values? That should be reflective of you know, of comparable veg oil or corn or soybean meal futures curves as well. I'm curious to understand what you're seeing there.

Sure. Ben, maybe I'll take the lead and Jim can add color. As we look forward in our hedging practices, we look at the gross cost of corn and the basis of depending upon which plant the corn's coming into. So yes, we are considering basis as one of those risks that we have to hedge against and are covered against that. I think when we look at coproduct values, as I've said from the beginning of the year, coproduct values were quite elevated as corn has risen. We're seeing the benefits of that clearly in Q1. We anticipate the continued benefits of coproduct values into Q2, I think what we're cautious about is we're going to get a harvest here in the U.S. towards the end of Q3. And depending upon that harvest, there will be resultant impacts to both corn coproduct values as well as potentially soy. And so I think within our full year perspective, I think we're reasonably cautious on coproduct values. as we would expect the harvest, as well as what the corn futures market reflects, is a slight decrease in values. And I think that that's what we're reasonably cautious about with regard to coproduct values.

Okay. That's great. That's helpful. My second question is, you noted, I think the word you used was cessation of ethanol production at the Cedar Rapids facility. Is that a permanent cessation or permanent? temporary?

That's a permanent cessation of ethanol production at Cedar Rapids. We would prefer to use the grind more towards starches and more value-added products.

Okay. And then one quick one, if I could, on Pure Circle. Can you remind us, I guess it's still dragging operating profit, can you remind us of what you think EBIT contribution will be in this year and then Would it be next year that we'd start to see some positive EBIT contribution? And then I'll leave it there, thank you.

Yeah, let me just start with the technical and then Jim can add color. What we're really seeing is we largely got after the integration in terms of taking out some of the SG&A costs and successfully completed that in the last half of 2020. Now we're working towards gross profit margin improvement as we bring in the next generation of Stevia leaf. We're seeing continued improvement in margins. And as we get towards the end of this year, we really believe that Pure Circle will be breakeven to positive.

Yeah, and I would just add that Pure Circle for us right now is performing at or above our expectations since the acquisition in July. And as a reminder, we've owned the business for five months, and we're seeing sequential improvement month on month right now based on how the team has managed the integration, as well as the commercial receptivity of customers and commercial engagement.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Ken Caslow with Bank of Montreal. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Hi, Ken. Good morning. Good morning.

Just want to touch base on Brazil. Your results in South America were above our expectations. As you look forward, what are you seeing in Brazil, and are you still able to keep this momentum going through the year, or will there be some subtle changes? Can you talk about that?

Yeah, let me take that, and Jim, I'll let you add any color commentary. As we've been saying for the last few quarters, you know, we've been very proud of the South America team's performance and how they've managed through some really difficult economic, macroeconomic challenges, but then equally, obviously, with what's going on in South America with the pandemic as well. The net sales increase in South America has really been driven primarily by the pass-through of higher corn costs, and it's also benefited from higher volumes in Argentina and Brazil. There's actually been very strong volume recovery that's continued in Brazil and in South America. The first quarter operating income also benefited from well-executed contract management and corn hedging, as well as higher coproduct recoveries, and it's worth to note that this is the third consecutive quarter of year-on-year operating income growth in South America, and it's the highest quarter one performance in nearly a decade in South America. We just think the team is operating exceptionally well. Our operations are performing very well under difficult circumstances. And, you know, it's a combination of volume uptick, great contract management, operational execution is what we're seeing. And the question is, you know, can the consumers continue to – feel robust in their purchasing behaviors going forward. That's the question.

Yeah, and Ken, to highlight that we've talked about in Brazil in particular that just given the longer period of recession that we saw ourselves coming out of, I don't know if it's at the end of 2019 and partially into 2020, but the utilizations of our facilities were always lower, and now what we're seeing is that volume tick up, you know, gives us that incremental utilization to the, you know, low 80s, mid 80s at times. And all of that is just really incremental to the business. And so you're seeing that benefit. And then just to highlight, Jim, you know, said the team is executing really well. I mean, I would call out that the South America team is doing two things in particularly well, which is they're really thinking about pricing and the timeliness of the pricing and where value exists, as well as they're really looking at corn procurement. and hedging differently, and they've just really tightened the execution on that, which is benefiting the business.

And I think it's worth noting, because we have talked about this in the past, in relationship to the pricing passed through a foreign exchange devaluation. This is the first quarter in recent memory, if you were to go back, where price mix actually exceeds foreign exchange devaluation. It's the first quarter we can remember when that's the case, and that just is a further validation of what Jim just said.

Great. And then big picture question, as you think about higher input costs across the chain, you know, from corn to other parts of the chain, how much demand do you need as a recovery to be able to cover that? And I don't mean for this year or next year, just in general. How do you think about the volume demand that you need to get to be able to get the pricing right? to offset the higher input cost, and how do you work that through? Just, again, a more longer-term question.

Yeah, it's an interesting question, Ken. I mean, what I would say is right now we're encouraged by some of the signs we're seeing in increased economic activity, and that's translating into increased industry capacity utilization. So, and that comment would apply certainly to North America as well as South America. We're, of course, carefully monitoring the inflationary increases in freight, packaging, chemicals. And what we're witnessing right now are our customers are announcing price increases to retail and consumers. And there's no doubt that's all going to be factored into our pricing negotiations with customers ultimately in 2022. But right now, I think we're encouraged by the volume pickup, and we're seeing increased economic activity, which is increasing capacity utilization. So we're very encouraged by that.

Great.

I appreciate it.

Thank you. And as a reminder, ladies, to ask the question, just press star, then 1. Our next question is from Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks. Good morning, everyone. Hi, Adam. Good morning, Adam. So maybe if I could take Ken's last question and maybe frame it a little bit differently, a little bit more near term. And I know the volume kind of comparisons on a year-on-year basis start getting very noisy as we go through the second quarter, really March onwards. And I'm wondering if you can give any kind of perspective by region, by key kind of category or product line, about volumes versus 2019 levels and how we should think about that versus the balance of the year.

Yeah, sure. Why don't you take a shot at it? Hey, Adam, I'll take a quick survey of the world with regard to volume. As a reminder for all listening, I think when we went through 2020, Where we actually saw greater exposure was in what I'll call some of our core ingredients. Some of our sweetener syrups, which might go into beverages, some of the adjuncts that might go into brewing industry, some of the sweeteners that might go into confectionery, or more food products that really benefit from impulse buying a lot of consumer mobility products. And our specialty ingredients, primarily in those modified food starches and clean label products, really continued to kind of show up quite steadily. You know, we noted that we had a little bit of food service interruption in May when I think the restrictions were so specific, but generally we noted that specialty's ingredient growth in 2020 has been pretty steady. So when you look to 2021, and you go kind of around the world real quick, where do we see those sweetener syrups and some of those more core ingredients bouncing back? So you'll see that strong in North America, where we had quite a bit of food service shutdown. It impacted beverage soda sales, and it also impacted some of your morning and your other occasions within food service. And so as you see that steadily come back in the second half and even through the Q1 of 2021, we're seeing just that steady food service improvement and that pulls demand. South America really saw a pretty dramatic drop off in core ingredient sales in Q2 of last year and a pretty sharp rebound in Q3, at least in brewing. and then kind of up and down through Q3 and Q4. So we'll see that that lap is actually still, I think, going to contribute quite positively, particularly Colombia and the Andean region. We have pretty easy laps through the balance of the year. When you turn to EMEA with regard to Europe, Europe has been really kind of up and down on food service and takeaway foods, which is a particular strong market area for us. And we're still actually seeing that slow as we even turn the year, you know, the end of 2020. And so I do think that Europe has an opportunity for pretty strong lapse in most of Europe businesses' specialty. Pakistan only had a blip. really in Q2, and it was really driven by more kind of economic slowdown within the country, and really the impact of exports of textiles. So I think we'll see Pakistan be able to, it'll have slightly tougher laps, but I think that that business and that economy are still have the potential to continue to recover as the GDP rates continue to strengthen. And then finally, in Asia-Pac, You know, we noted that really the impact from COVID restrictions really impacted South Korea and China in Q1 of last year. We're seeing that lap here in Q1 of 2021. And then as we go through the balance of the year, we had some impacts in Q2 and Q3 in Oceania. and kind of Southeast Asia, and we'll see the ability to lap that for both Q2 and a bit of Q3. That's kind of a survey of the world.

Yeah, I would say that we are particularly encouraged by the fact that despite some regional lockdowns as the virus has surged in, whether it be Europe or whether it be in parts of South America, despite that, these second- and third-wave lockdowns are not leading to anywhere near any kind of a volume drop-off. And, in fact, things are very even-keeled and steady. Asia-Pac overall, I think, is actually trending upward in 2021 vis-à-vis 2019. Food service is almost back and hopefully will be back in North America in the second half. and that's been reapportioned between QSRs, you know, fast casual as well as fine dining, but robust pickup and a brighter outlook for the second half here in North America. And so overall, I think, you know, the worst is certainly behind us, we believe, based on how everyone's learned to live with the virus and how consumer eating habits have changed in relationship to there will be a higher proportion of food consumed at home than was the case in 2019. And that bodes well for the products that we supply.

That's some really helpful color. And my follow-up is just, as I think about 2022, I think about kind of the increase in corn. You kind of use some very helpful color around the impacts of corn on this year's results. I'm just trying to think about the setup into it. contracting in North America next year. Um, and then kind of early kind of thoughts just seems like contracting happened in a very different corn price environment than the one we're in now. And I'm just thinking about the ability to push on that through that much kind of cost inflation, just how you have, how you're approaching that.

Yeah. Hey, you know, obviously it's a little early to be commenting on, on, you know, pricing and contracting season, but you know, I think it's very relevant, you know, as a reminder, Over half of our revenue in North America is with larger customers that have a contract that is fee-based. So that corn cost increase right now is being passed through. So I think it's unusual that some of your largest customers are actually seeing kind of higher costs for their syrups as it's being passed through right now. I remind you, though, for the other half, our customers are benefiting from prices that were set in their contracts when corn was below $4 a bushel. And these are many customers, medium and small customers. So through our procurement and our hedging, we're managing the higher cost of corn in the second half of this year. For 2022, the company will be able to rebalance the pricing with the corn costs wherever the corn market settles out sometime after this year's harvest. And we have a better view towards 2022 pricing, but just remind you of that, that difference in our customer concentration.

All right. I appreciate the, uh, the color. I'll pass it on. Thanks.

Thank you. Our next question is from Robert Moscow with Credit Suisse.

Um, I had a question about your sweetener strategy, the most recent acquisition or I guess partnership in South America. I think Cargill is the leader in using fermentation to create Rev-M. How do you think what you've purchased here compares to what Cargill is doing in terms of volume and expertise? And then also, As you build out this strategy, now you have assets in China, you have assets in South America. Is that typical for servicing the North America demand market to be sourcing from those regions, or are you competing against local North American players?

I'm going to answer the question specifically in relationship to sugar reduction, which I believe is what you're asking about. What we are very excited by is the fact that when we bought Pure Circle, we bought the leader in stevia leaf extract and also in what is called bioconverted stevia, which takes leaf and then optimizes it through enzymatic conversion to give you different fractions of stevia that have different taste profiles or better taste profiles. We bought that company with great technology, great intellectual property, and the broadest and deepest portfolio of product technology in that space. With the Amaris joint venture, what we have done is add on the access to fermented REBM, which has the prospects for the lowest cost production of a great tasting sugar reduction ingredient and all of these tools in a sugar reduction toolbox are needed because when you replace sugar in a food application, you're working in a customized way with customers where overall sensory and mouthfeel characteristics have to be built back and customized. And understanding how each one of these ingredients affects both the sweetness profile as well as mouthfeel and flavor is very, very important. So we think this is a tremendous combination. In addition, there are different labeling requirements in different parts of the world that we think these three variations of, say, Stevia, will provide... the world to us really from a standpoint of the global customer base and all of the different regulatory requests and requirements that we will have to meet. As far as the geographic location, we're sourcing from China, from Malaysia with Pure Circle. In the case of Amherst, we're sourcing from Brazil ultimately, but we're talking about ingredients that are specialty ingredients that, like our starch ingredients, can be transported around the world like we do today. And in those particular cases, the freight costs are not a significant part of the overall delivered cost to the customer. So actually, in the case of Amaris, locating it in Brazil and using non-GMO sugar cane gives us a sustainable sourcing option And that is part of the strategy also that Amaris has to use that as a feedstock. So we just are very, very excited by this, what I call trifecta of ingredient portfolio that this now gives us of tools in our toolbox for sugar reduction. And we think it also enables us to be very cost competitive, which is also an important requirement of customers when you replace sugar in a formulation.

Got it.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, Rob.

Thank you. And this concludes our Q&A session for today. I will turn the call back to our President and CEO, Gene Sally, for final remarks.

All right. Well, we thank everyone who has joined us today and really appreciate your time. I also want to thank our employees who stayed focused and committed to serving our customers. And to all of you, until we speak again, please continue to stay safe. Thanks very much, everyone.

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.