Ingredion Inc

Our Company

Ingredion Incorporated (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company,” “Ingredion,” “we,” “us,” and “our”) is a leading global ingredient solutions provider that transforms grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing and industrial markets. Our purpose is to bring the potential of people, nature and technology together to make life better.

We aspire to be recognized as the go-to provider for texture and healthful solutions that make healthy taste better. We develop, produce and sell a variety of food and beverage ingredients, primarily starches and sweeteners, for a broad range of customers in over 60 industries worldwide.

Products

Our innovative ingredient solutions help customers stay on trend with consumer-friendly, in-demand ingredients. Ingredion derives most of our products by processing corn and other starch-based materials, such as tapioca, potato and rice. Our product lines include starches and sweeteners, animal feed products and edible corn oil. Our starch-based products include both food-grade and industrial starches, as well as biomaterials and non-GMO (genetically modified organism) products. Our sweetener products include glucose syrups, high maltose syrups, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrins, glucose and syrup solids, high-intensity sweeteners, and various non-GMO products.

Starches are an important component in a wide range of processed foods, where food companies use them for adhesion, clouding, dusting, expansion, fat replacement, freshness, gelling, glazing, mouthfeel, stabilization and texture. The paper industry uses starches to provide strength properties as well as adhesion in the conversion of corrugated boxes, and various industrial companies use paper starches for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability and biochemical oxygen demand control. Industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, as well as in mining and water filtration. The textile industry uses starches for sizing (abrasion resistance) to provide size and finishes for manufactured products. Specialty industrial starches are used for biomaterial applications, including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves, and in the production of glass fiber and insulation. Our starch products represented approximately 49 percent, 47 percent and 46 percent of our net sales for 2024, 2023 and 2022.

Sweeteners have broad application in food, beverage and brewing products. Food companies use our sweeteners in a wide variety of food and beverage products, such as baked goods, snack foods, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes, table syrups, and beverages. These sweetener products offer functionality in addition to sweetness, such as texture, body and viscosity; help control freezing points, crystallization and browning; add humectancy (ability to add moisture) and flavor; and act as binders. Our high maltose syrups speed the fermentation process, allowing brewers to increase capacity without adding capital. Dextrose has a wide range of applications in the food and confection industries, in solutions for intravenous (“IV”) and other pharmaceutical applications. Some natural high-intensity sweeteners, such as stevia, provide a sweetness or functional alternative to full-caloric sweeteners for our customers. Some food and beverage customers seek these alternatives for their reduced-calorie or sugar-free foods and beverages. Our sweetener products represented approximately 35 percent, 34 percent and 33 percent of our net sales for 2024, 2023 and 2022.

Our products also include pulse-based protein ingredients made from yellow peas, which add protein, dietary fiber, micronutrients and texture to food and beverages. We sell refined corn oil (from germ) to packers of cooking oil and to producers of margarine, salad dressings, shortening, mayonnaise and other foods. We also sell corn gluten feed as animal feed and corn gluten meal as high-protein feed for chickens, pet food and aquaculture. In addition, we sell multi-ingredient systems and blends.

Our products compete with products made from other raw materials. High fructose corn syrup and monohydrate dextrose, for example, compete principally with cane and beet sugar products. Co-products, such as corn oil and gluten meal, compete with products of the corn dry milling industry and with soybean oil, soybean meal and other products. Fluctuations in prices of these competing products may affect prices of, and profits derived from, our products.

Business Segments

Beginning January 1, 2024, we re-aligned our operating segments, which resulted in a change to our reportable business segments. This change in operating segments better aligns our production assets and commercial efforts and resulted in three new reportable segments: Texture & Healthful Solutions (“T&HS”), which focuses on providing its solutions to the global market; and Food & Industrial Ingredients - Latin America (“F&II - LATAM”) and Food & Industrial Ingredients - U.S./Canada (“F&II - U.S./Canada”), each of which focuses on providing its products to local markets. In addition, we group operating segments that are not individually or collectively classified as a reportable segment as “All Other.”

The approximate portion of total net sales by industry for each of our reportable segments and All Other in 2024 was as follows:

No customer or group of related customers accounted for 10 percent or more of our net sales in 2024, 2023 or 2022.

Some of our customer contracts provide for spot sales, while others are fee-based and adjust our selling prices based upon raw material input costs. Longer term customer contracts may have terms of one year or multiple years, such as those with the beverage industry. Firm-based pricing reflects fixed prices for our products, which transfers risk to us for underlying input costs over the contract period. Conversely, fee-based pricing allocates the risk for the underlying input costs to our customers. Most of our multi-year contracts are fee-based, which adjust our selling prices at intervals during the contract term.

Texture & Healthful Solutions

T&HS focuses on providing global customers with a wide array of innovative ingredient solutions that maintain or enhance texture and deliver healthful product attributes for global and regional customers. T&HS product categories are primarily comprised of modified and native starches, clean-label texturizers, hydrocolloids, and customized formulations. T&HS ingredients deliver more functionality than our other products, add additional customer value, achieve higher average selling prices, and enable our customers to deliver high quality, consumer-preferred products aligned to growing market and consumer trends such as health and wellness, clean-label, simple ingredients, affordability, indulgence and sustainability.

T&HS faces competition globally from Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (“ADM”), Tate & Lyle, Cargill, and Roquette. Smaller, local corn, potato, and tapioca processors also operate in some of our markets, targeting other customer needs.

T&HS’s customer contracts vary according to each customer’s circumstances and primary location. These include both firm- and fee-based contracts, with multi-year, one-year, or shorter terms, depending on market dynamics, customer preferences and our considerations of input cost risks.

T&HS has a global manufacturing footprint with 23 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, Asia-Pacific and Europe, which produce ingredients based on raw materials that include corn, potato, tapioca, fruit, rice, and tree extracts. In addition, T&HS utilizes a network of tolling manufacturers to produce certain ingredients, which T&HS completes through its finishing channels.

Food & Industrial Ingredients - Latin America

F&II - LATAM consists of ten manufacturing facilities in Mexico and South America that convert primarily corn, but also some tapioca and sugar, into starches, sweeteners and co-products for the local needs of food and industrial markets in Latin America. Product applications include food production, brewing, beverages, paper manufacturing, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. F&II - LATAM has a significant presence in the brewing industry in Latin America, which uses high maltose corn syrup and starches in its brewing products, unlike the U.S. and Canada. F&II - LATAM’s customers for food and industrial ingredients, including global brands, source raw materials locally in the Latin America region.

F&II - LATAM’s facilities typically manufacture liquid or dry products that require minimal modification and are usually shipped by truck to local markets. Although most of our Mexico and Colombia operations use corn raw material inputs that they import from the U.S., our other South American operations procure their corn and other raw inputs from local producers in South America.

F&II - LATAM faces competition from U.S. imports into Mexico and from local producers, including ALMEX, a Mexican joint venture between ADM and Primient. South America is a more fragmented market of local producers, but Cargill maintains starch processing operations in Brazil and Argentina.

Most of F&II - LATAM’s customer contracts reflect country and industry practices. The brewing industry throughout Latin America primarily uses fee-based, multi-year contracts with pricing that updates quarterly. In Mexico, a significant portion of our volume is sold through annual, firm-priced contracts. Most customer contracts in South America are one-year contracts that have shorter pricing periods that adjust to factors such as inflation and local raw input prices, as well as spot sales and contracts that are three months or less.

F&II - LATAM also holds a 49% ownership in Ingrear Holding S.A. (the “Argentina joint venture”), a joint venture with Grupo Arcor, an Argentine multinational company. The joint venture, which has operations in Argentina and is impacted by Argentine peso currency fluctuations, serves customers in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Food & Industrial Ingredients - U.S./Canada

F&II - U.S./Canada consists of six manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Canada that convert corn into starches and sweeteners and co-products for the local needs of food and industrial markets. F&II - U.S./Canada has a significant presence in the industrial market. Product applications include food and beverages, paper and packaging, pharmaceuticals and personal care. F&II - U.S./Canada’s facilities manufacture liquid or dry products that require minimal modification and are usually shipped using bulk rail cars or tanker trucks. The manufacturing process also generates co-products that customers use for animal nutrition and corn oil production. F&II - U.S./Canada’s customers include global brands that generally tend to source ingredients locally.

The starch and sweetener industry in the U.S. and Canada is highly competitive, and competition within these markets is largely based on product functionality, price and quality. F&II - U.S./Canada’s competitors include, among others, ADM, Cargill, and Primient. F&II - U.S./Canada’s customer sales contracts are typically one year in length or shorter; however, one-third of sales are multi-year, fee-based contracts.

All Other

We do not separately report results for operating segments that we classify in All Other, which includes sweetener and starch sales by our Pakistan business, sales of stevia and other ingredients from our PureCircle and Sugar Reduction businesses, and pea protein and, until recently, fava bean ingredients from our Protein Fortification business. The sale of our South Korea business occurred on February 1, 2024.

Our Sugar Reduction business includes our 98 percent ownership of PureCircle Limited (“PureCircle”) and other sweeteners that provide affordable and natural, reduced sugar and sugar-free solutions for our customers. Sugar Reduction solutions provide sweetness or functional replacement for sugar in reduced-calorie and sugar-free foods and beverages without sacrificing quality and consistency.

Our Protein Fortification business produces specialty pulse-based protein ingredients made from yellow peas, which add protein, dietary fiber, micronutrients and texture to food and beverages. At the end of 2024, we decided to cease the manufacturing operations at our manufacturing facility in Vanscoy, Canada.

Operations

In Operations, we leverage the power of our Ingredion Performance System to seek to deliver consistent, sustainable improvement through five pillars – people, reliability, quality, management and safety. For each of these pillars, we assign leadership to corporate, segment and manufacturing facility levels. Our centralized production planning, distribution and financial functions give us the ability to serve global customers, leverage digital solutions and artificial intelligence, ration production capacity, identify synergies, and maximize the benefits of our global presence. We delegate authority for production improvements and empower local management to seek tailored innovation solutions throughout our worldwide operations, allowing us to bring added value to our customers and providing us with a unique understanding of the cultures and product requirements in each of our geographic markets. As of December 31, 2024, we utilized our global network of 46 manufacturing facilities and joint venture partnerships to support our global product lines.

Most of our manufacturing processes are based on a capital-intensive, two-step process that involves the wet-milling and processing of starch-based materials, primarily corn. During the front-end process, we steep starch-based materials in a water-based solution and separate them into a starch slurry, protein, fiber, or germ used to produce corn oil. We will then further process the starch slurry to produce starches, sweeteners and other ingredients for various industries.

Raw Materials

Corn (primarily yellow dent) is the primary basic raw material we use to produce starches and sweeteners. We also use tapioca in certain of our T&HS production processes in the Asia-Pacific region and in South America. We use chips and slices from potato processors as the primary raw material to manufacture potato-based starches. In addition to corn, potatoes, and tapioca, we use pulses, gums, rice, stevia, yellow peas and sugar as raw materials, among others.

Corn is grown in many areas of the world, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Europe, South Africa and Pakistan. Our operations in the U.S. source corn produced in the U.S., and our subsidiaries outside the U.S. utilize both supplies of corn from their local regions, as well as corn the subsidiaries import from other geographic areas, including the U.S. We generally expect the supply of corn for our subsidiaries to be adequate for our needs.

The price of corn fluctuates in response to various factors, including farmers’ planting decisions, climate, crop-related disease, domestic and foreign government policies (including those related to the production of ethanol), livestock feeding, shortages or surpluses of world grain supplies, and trade agreements. Corn prices for our non-U.S. subsidiaries fluctuate as a result of the same factors that affect U.S. corn prices, although the impact of these factors on local markets may vary.

We also utilize specialty grains, such as waxy and high amylose corn, as well as proprietary seed varietals in our operations. In general, the planning cycle for our sourcing of specialty grains begins three years in advance of the anticipated delivery of the specialty corn, since farmers must grow the necessary seed in the season before we contract to buy the grain. To secure these specialty grains at the time of our anticipated needs, we contract approximately two years in advance of delivery with farmers to grow the specialty corn. These specialty grains have a higher cost due to their more limited supply and require longer planning cycles to mitigate the risk of potential supply shortages.

Sugar Reduction ingredients, which include stevia sweeteners, polyols, dextrose and allulose, a rare sugar, come from a variety of GMO and non-GMO raw material bases. Due to the competitive nature of our industry and the availability of substitute products, end-product prices in any period may not fluctuate in tandem with raw material costs of corn or other input costs during that period.

We use derivative hedging contracts to protect the gross margin of our firm-priced business, primarily in each of our Food and Industrial Ingredient reportable segments. See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk for additional information.

Research and Development

Our Research and Development (“R&D”) organization is dedicated to driving innovation and enhancing Ingredion’s competitive position within the ingredient industry. The R&D function focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of high-performance, value-added ingredient solutions that meet evolving consumer preferences and industry demands in both food and non-food applications. We achieve this through the physical, chemical, and biochemical transformation of agricultural inputs, primarily corn. We invest in cutting-edge technology, proprietary formulations, and process innovations to expand our product portfolio while maintaining compliance with regulatory, food safety, and quality standards in all geographies in which we operate.

Our R&D team consists of approximately 500 scientists and engineers who work collaboratively across our global network of 30 Ingredion Idea Labs®, with headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Our core capabilities include food and non-food product design and development, molecular discovery, analytical and sensory characterization, regulatory affairs, manufacturing process innovation, plant science, and project portfolio management. We collaborate with customers to develop specific application solutions either in the customers’ facilities, our Idea Labs® and technical service centers, or at third-party contractors. Additionally, we partner with academic institutions, research organizations, and industry stakeholders to foster collaborative innovation and accelerate the development of new technologies. Our intellectual property portfolio, including patents and proprietary know-how, supports our strategic innovation initiatives and reinforces our commitment to delivering differentiated, high-performance ingredients to our customers around the world.

We continuously evaluate and refine our R&D investments to align with our long-term business strategy, improve operational efficiencies, and drive sustainable growth for Ingredion.

Sales and Distribution

Members of our salaried sales workforce, who are generally dedicated to customers in a geographic region, sell our products directly to manufacturers and distributors. In addition, we have employees who provide technical support to our sales personnel on an industry basis. We generally contract with trucking companies to deliver our bulk products to customer destinations. In North America countries serviced by our F&II segments, we generally use trucks to ship to nearby customers. For those customers located considerable distances from our manufacturing facilities, we primarily use either rail transport or a combination of rail transport and trucks to deliver our products.

Patents and Trademarks

As of December 31, 2024, we owned more than 2,000 patents and patents pending, which relate to a variety of products and processes, as well as a number of established trademarks under which we market our products. We also have the right to use other patents and trademarks pursuant to patent and trademark licenses. We do not believe that any individual patent or group of related patents or any trademark is material to our business.

Human Capital

Our core values - Care First, Be Preferred, Everyone Belongs, Innovate Boldly, and Owner’s Mindset - provide us with guidelines and expectations for ethical behavior among our employees. Our Code of Conduct is well-defined, and we have governance processes in place to manage compliance with our Code of Conduct, policies and procedures, and applicable laws and regulations.

Through our Care First value, we actively work to safeguard and enable the well-being of our people, the quality of our products, and our reputation for trust and integrity. We believe the strength of our workforce is one of the significant contributors to our success as a global company. Attracting, developing and retaining global talent with the right skills to drive our business is central to our values and long-term growth strategy. As a result, we believe our employees feel connected to our culture and identify with our values, commitment to our purpose, innovation, and pursuing our sustainability goals through their actions and behaviors.

Workforce Profile

As of December 31, 2024, Ingredion employed approximately 11,200 people, of whom approximately 3,200 were located in the U.S. and Canada. Approximately 33 percent of our U.S. and Canadian employees are members of labor unions. We have no collective bargaining agreements in the U.S. or Canada that will expire in 2025.

The approximate number of employees by reportable segment and All Other as of December 31, 2024 is as follows:

(i) All Other includes corporate employees.

Workplace Safety and Employee Wellness

The overall well-being and safety of our employees and customers is one of our top priorities. We believe we make a positive contribution to our employees’ health and quality of life through our strong focus on maintaining an injury-free workplace and investments in programs, training, workplace resources and continuous improvement methodologies that encourage safe working practices. We continue to improve safety results and ensure responsible management of all our facilities, particularly in our manufacturing facilities, which continue to represent the greatest safety and health risks. A workplace safety goal represents a part of each employee’s personal performance objectives each year as we strive to achieve an injury-free work environment.

Ingredion provides our employees with a variety of wellness programs and offers incentives for weight management, smoking cessation and health club memberships. We also offer Employee Assistance Programs to provide counseling services in support of the emotional, social and financial health of each employee.

Culture and Employee Engagement

We conduct confidential engagement surveys of our global workforce. Executive officers and leaders throughout the organization review aggregate survey results and create action plans at global, regional, functional and managerial levels. Furthermore, we employ a flexible approach for our office-based employees on how and where we work. We focus on agile ways of working that enable colleagues to work remotely when appropriate and organize our offices to foster connection and collaboration.

Government Regulation

As a manufacturer and marketer of food items and items for use in the pharmaceutical industry, our operations and the use of many of our products are subject to federal, state, foreign and local statutes and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. We and many of our products are also subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies. Among other things, applicable regulations of these agencies prescribe requirements and establish standards for product quality, purity and labeling. Failure to comply with one or more regulatory requirements can result in a variety of sanctions, including monetary fines. No material fines were imposed on us in 2024. We may also be required to comply with federal, state, foreign and local laws regulating food handling and storage. We believe these laws and regulations have not negatively affected our competitive position.

Our operations are also subject to federal, state, foreign and local laws and regulations for environmental matters, including air and water quality, as well as other regulations intended to protect public health and the environment. We operate industrial boilers that fire natural gas, coal, or biofuels to operate our manufacturing facilities. Those boilers, along with product dryers, are our primary source of greenhouse gas emissions. During 2024, we spent $49 million for environmental control and wastewater treatment equipment to be incorporated into existing facilities and in planned construction projects. We currently expect that we will invest approximately $66 million for environmental facilities and programs in 2025.

Based on current laws and regulations and their enforcement and interpretation, we do not expect that the costs of future environmental compliance will be a material expense, although there can be no assurance that we will remain in compliance or that the costs of remaining in compliance will not have a material adverse effect on our future financial condition and results of operations.

Additional Information

Our website address is www.ingredion.com and our investor website is ir.ingredionincorporated.com. We make available, free of charge through our investor website, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We make these reports available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with or furnish them to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our corporate governance guidelines, board committee charters and code of ethics are posted on our investor website and will be made available in print without charge to any stockholder upon request in writing to our principal executive offices at Ingredion Incorporated, 5 Westbrook Corporate Center, Westchester, Illinois 60154, Attention: Corporate Secretary. The information on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this report.

Information about our Executive Officers

Our executive officers and their positions with us as of February 20, 2025 are as follows: