Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

We’re seeing some movement in Europe on pig numbers a little bit. And the beef numbers, yes, they said the cow, calf herds are the smallest since 1962, which is when I was born, which is hard to believe. But at the end of the day, our plants are still seeing just we’re full. So I really don’t see much of a cycle here. Now remember, we’re not — we do process for some of the big names out there, but the little guys always seem to stay full versus the big guys when there’s any type of contraction of herd size out there. And so ultimately, at the end of the day, I see — I mean, over 20 years, we’ve seen a 1% or 2% change in raw material volumes in any contraction year. We’re not seeing that now. Anything you want to add, John, that I missed?

John Bullock: No, our lines remain very strong at this point in time. Obviously, we realized the cattle herd is cycling a little bit. The other thing although that I would — I think we have to keep in mind is we have a global footprint on sourcing. Obviously, FASA puts us in the middle of Brazil, and that’s a large cattle area. And so we’re diversified now on the origin source of where we’re sourcing all of our raw materials, and that helps us. That stabilizes our footprint, gives us opportunities. When one country is going down a little bit, oftentimes another country’s going up a little bit, so raw material supply looks extremely good.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Randy Stuewe for any closing remarks.

Randall Stuewe: Well, once again, thanks for all your questions today. As you know, we’ll be attending several investor conferences this March, which are listed on our website. As always, if you have any questions, reach out to Suann. Stay safe. Have a great day, and I look forward to being back in front of you here this spring to give you a progress update. Thanks again.

Operator: Thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.