FMC (FMC) Risk Factors

Climate change may impact markets in which we sell our products, where, for example, a prolonged drought may result in decreased demand for our products. The more gradual effects of persistent temperature change in geographies with significant agricultural lands may result in changes in lands suitable for agriculture or changes in the mix of crops suitable for cultivation and the pests that may be present in such geographies. For example, prolonged increase in average temperature may make northern lands suitable for growing crops not grown historically in such climes, leading farmers to shift from crops such as wheat to soybean and may result in new or different weed, plant disease or insect pressures on such crops – such changes would impact the mix of pesticide products farmers would purchase, which may be adverse for us, depending on the local market and our product mix. Additionally, changes in the governmental regulation of greenhouse gases, depending on their nature and scope, could subject our manufacturing operations to significant additional costs or limits on operations.

Our markets are affected by climatic conditions, which could adversely impact crop pricing and pest infestations. For example, drought may reduce the need for fungicides, which could result in fewer sales and greater unsold inventories in the market, whereas excessive rain could lead to increased plant disease or weed growth requiring growers to purchase and use more pesticides. Drought and/ or increased temperatures may change insect pest pressures, requiring growers to use more, less, or different insecticides. Natural disasters can impact production at our facilities in various parts of the world. The nature of these events makes them difficult to predict.

The persistence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has caused significant disruptions in the U.S. and global economies, and economists expect the impact will continue to be significant. As an agricultural sciences company, we are considered an “essential” industry in the countries in which we operate; we have avoided significant plant closures and all our manufacturing facilities and distribution warehouses remain operational and properly staffed. Our research laboratories and greenhouses also have continued to operate throughout the pandemic and we have sustained our operations with safety as a priority. We are closely monitoring raw material and supply chain costs. The extent to which COVID will continue to impact us will depend on future developments, many of which remain uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the pandemic, further actions to be taken to contain the pandemic or mitigate its impact, and the extent of the direct and indirect economic effects of the pandemic and containment measures, among others. External and internal factors and events related to COVID could result in employee isolation and burnout, leading to operational disruption and unexpected, regrettable attrition, which may impact the sustainability of our “high touch” agile culture. We have seen some logistics challenges, supply chain challenges, and shortages of packaging materials and containers, as many industries have increased e-commerce and delivery of goods, creating extra demand on packaging materials, as well as related higher costs and pockets of demand reduction. We may continue to experience disruption caused by COVID in our supply chain, logistics, and pockets of demand, as well as on farm worker labor required for planting, harvesting and packing crops (especially fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops) in the food chain going forward. This outbreak may impact access to our production sites or our ability to adequately and safely staff these sites, the ability of raw material suppliers to produce and deliver goods to us, our ability to ship our products to production, warehousing or customer sites, the ability of our sales organization to make sales or for customers (or indirect customers such as farmers) to purchase our products, or the ability to collect on customer receivables. Our supply chain and business operations could be disrupted from the temporary closure of third-party supplier and manufacturer facilities, interruptions in product supply or restrictions on the export or shipment of our products. Any disruption of our suppliers and contract manufacturers could impact our sales and operating results. The outbreak, and governmental responses to the outbreak, have caused disruption in certain food distribution systems and labor markets for planting and harvesting, which in turn have created operational and financial pressures on some farmers who are the ultimate users of the vast majority of our products. If those pressures continue and grow more widespread or severe, and if farmers materially change their planting decisions or choose not to protect their crops with our products, such pressures on farmers could impact our sales and operating results. Other global health concerns could also result in social, economic, and labor instability in the countries in which we or our customers and suppliers operate. These uncertainties could have a material adverse effect on our business and our results of operation and financial condition. A widespread health crisis could adversely affect the global economy, resulting in an economic downturn that could impact demand for our products. Although our production operations that support agriculture have generally been viewed as “essential” and exempted from governmental lockdown orders, the future impact of the outbreak is highly uncertain and cannot be predicted and there is no assurance that the outbreak will not have a material adverse impact on the future results of the Company. The extent of the impact will depend on future developments, including the availability of vaccines and other actions taken to contain the coronavirus.

We produce products through a combination of owned facilities and contract manufacturers. We own and operate large-scale active ingredient manufacturing facilities in the U.S. (Mobile), Puerto Rico (Manati), China (Jinshan), Denmark (Ronland), and India (Panoli). Our operating results are dependent in part on the continued operation of these production facilities. Interruptions at these facilities may materially reduce the productivity of a particular manufacturing facility, or the profitability of our business as a whole. Although we take precautions to enhance the safety of our operations and minimize the risk of disruptions, our operations and those of our contract manufacturers are subject to hazards inherent in chemical manufacturing and the related storage and transportation of raw materials, products and wastes. These potential hazards include explosions, fires, severe weather and natural disasters, mechanical failure, unscheduled downtimes, supplier disruptions, labor shortages or other labor difficulties, information technology systems outages, disruption in our supply chain or manufacturing and distribution operations, transportation interruptions, chemical spills, discharges or releases of toxic or hazardous substances or gases, shipment of contaminated or off-specification product to customers, storage tank leaks, other environmental risks, cyberattacks, or other sudden disruption in business operations beyond our control as a result of events such as acts of sabotage, terrorism or war, civil or political unrest, natural disasters, large scale power outages and public health epidemics/pandemics. Some of these hazards may cause severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment or personal injury and loss of life and may result in suspension of operations or the shutdown of affected facilities.