WESTCHESTER, ILL. — In in a Nov. 3 conference call with analysts to discuss third-quarter financial performance, executives of Ingredion, Inc. said the company is sharpening its focus on becoming a leader in texturizing, sugar reduction and plant-based proteins. During the quarter, the specialty ingredient supplier faced higher corn and other input costs.
“We achieved strong price mix of $335 million, including the pass-through of higher corn and input costs,” said James Gray, chief financial officer. “The sales volume increase of $14 million was driven by volume increases in each of the regions and offset by $18 million decrease due to the presentation change related to the Argentina joint venture.
“As I have mentioned previously, our business model, when measured by gross margin percentage, is impacted by rising and falling corn prices. In rising corn price cycles, historically, our pricing has lagged the change in the…