Ingredion Incorporated's Business Segments

Ingredion Incorporated (“Ingredion”) is a leading global ingredients solutions provider. We turn corn, tapioca, potatoes and other vegetables and fruits into value-added ingredients and biomaterials for the food, beverage, paper and corrugating, brewing and other industries. Ingredion was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1997 and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

We are principally engaged in the production and sale of starches and sweeteners for a wide range of industries, and are managed geographically on a regional basis. Our operations are classified into four reportable business segments: North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”). Our North America segment includes businesses in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Our South America segment includes businesses in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and the Southern Cone of South America, which includes Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. Our Asia Pacific segment includes businesses in South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand. Our EMEA segment includes businesses in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Pakistan and Kenya.


Ingredion supplies a broad range of customers in many diverse industries around the world, including the food, beverage, paper and corrugating, brewing, pharmaceutical, textile and personal care industries, as well as the global animal feed and corn oil markets.

Our product line includes starches and sweeteners, animal feed products and edible corn oil. Our starch-based products include both food-grade and industrial starches, and biomaterials. Our sweetener products include glucose syrups, high maltose syrups, high fructose corn syrup (“HFCS”), caramel color, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrins and glucose and syrup solids.

Our products are derived primarily from the processing of corn and other starch-based materials, such as tapioca, potato and rice.

Our manufacturing process is 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, corn is steeped in a water-based solution and separated into starch and co-products such as animal feed and corn oil. The starch is then either dried for sale or further processed to make sweeteners, starches and other ingredients that serve the particular needs of various industries.

We believe our approach to production and service, which focuses on local management and production improvements of our worldwide operations, provides us with a unique understanding of the cultures and product requirements in each of the geographic markets in which we operate, bringing added value to our customers through innovative solutions. At the same time, we believe that our corporate functions allow us to identify synergies and maximize the benefits of our global presence.

Our consolidated net sales were $5.62 billion in 2015. Approximately 60 percent of our 2015 net sales were provided from our North American operations.

Glucose Syrups: Glucose syrups are fundamental ingredients widely used in food products, such as baked goods, snack foods, beverages, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes and table syrups. Glucose syrups offer functionality in addition to sweetness to processed foods. They add body and viscosity; help control freezing points, crystallization and browning; add humectancy (ability to add moisture) and flavor; and act as binders.

High Maltose Syrup: This special type of glucose syrup is primarily used as a fermentable sugar in brewing beers. High maltose syrups are also used in the production of confections, canning and some other food processing applications. Our high maltose syrups speed the fermentation process, allowing brewers to increase capacity without adding capital.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: High fructose corn syrup is used in a variety of consumer products including soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages, baked goods, dairy products, confections and other food and beverage products. In addition to sweetness and ease of use, high fructose corn syrup provides body; humectancy; and aids in browning, freezing point and crystallization control.

Dextrose: Dextrose has a wide range of applications in the food and confection industries, in solutions for intravenous and other pharmaceutical applications, and numerous industrial applications like wallboard, biodegradable surface agents and moisture control agents. Dextrose functionality in foods, beverages and confectionary includes sweetness control; body and viscosity; acting as a bulking, drying and anti-caking agent; serving as a carrier; providing freezing point and crystallization control; and aiding in fermentation. Dextrose is also a fermentation agent in the production of light beer. In pharmaceutical applications dextrose is used in IV solutions as well as an excipient suitable for direct compression in tableting.

Polyols: These products are sugar-free, reduced calorie sweeteners primarily derived from starch or sugar for the food, beverage, confectionery, industrial, personal and oral care, and nutritional supplement markets. In addition to sweetness, polyols inhibit crystallization; provide binding, humectancy and plasticity; add texture; extend shelf life; prevent moisture migration; and are an excipient suitable for tableting.

Maltodextrins and Glucose Syrup Solids: These products have a multitude of food applications, including formulations where liquid syrups cannot be used. Maltodextrins are resistant to browning, provide excellent solubility, have a low hydroscopicity (do not retain moisture), and are ideal for their carrier/bulking properties. Glucose syrup solids have a bland flavor, remain clear in solution, are easy to handle and provide bulking properties.

Specialty Ingredients. We consider certain of our starch and sweetener products to be specialty ingredients. Specialty ingredients comprised approximately 25 percent of our net sales for 2015, up from 24 percent and 21 percent in 2014 and 2013, respectively. Our specialty ingredients are aligned with growing market and consumer trends such as health and wellness, clean-label, affordability, indulgence and sustainability. We plan to drive growth for our specialty ingredients portfolio by leveraging the following six platforms: Wholesome, Texture, Nutrition, Sweetness, Delivery Systems and Biomaterial Solutions.

Wholesome — Clean and simple ingredients that consumers can identify and trust

Nutrition - Nutritional carbohydrates with benefits of digestive health and energy management

Texture - Precise texture solutions that optimize the consumer experience and build back texture


Delivery Systems — Clean label emulsifiers that add value for customers by protecting and stabilizing expensive ingredients and flavors

Sweetness - Sweetening systems that provide affordable, natural, reduced calorie, and sugar-free solutions

Biomaterial Solutions - Nature-based materials for selected industrial segments and customers that answer demand for sustainable, non-synthetic ingredients

Wholesome: Clean and simple specialty ingredients that consumers can identify and trust. Products include Novation clean label functional starches, value added pulse-based ingredients and Gluten Free offerings. Texture: Specialty ingredients that provide precise food texture solutions designed to optimize the consumer experience and build back texture. Include starch systems that replace more expensive ingredients and are designed to optimize customer formulation costs, texturizers that are designed to create rich, creamy mouth feel, and products that enhance texture in healthier offerings. Nutrition: Specialty ingredients that provide nutritional carbohydrates with benefits of digestive health and energy management. Our fibers and complimentary nutritional ingredients address the leading health and wellness concerns of consumers, including digestive health, infant nutrition, weight and energy management, aging and immunity. Sweetness: Specialty ingredients that provide affordable, natural, reduced calorie and sugar-free solutions for our customers. We have a broad portfolio of nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, including high potency sweeteners and our naturally based stevia sweetener. Delivery Systems: Clean label emulsifiers that are designed to add value for customers by protecting and stabilizing expensive ingredients and flavors. Products include starches to help emulsify or mix natural colors in beverages and specialty starches that encapsulate and protect flavors and vitamins in pharmaceuticals and spray-dried food ingredients. Biomaterial Solutions: Nature-based materials that help manufacturers become more sustainable by replacing synthetic materials with nature-based ingredients in personal care, home care and other industrial segments.