Earnings Call Transcript - ADM Q2 2022

Operator, Operator

Good morning and welcome to the ADM Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode to prevent background noise. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Michael Cross, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Michael Cross, Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Alex. Good morning and welcome to ADM's second quarter earnings webcast. Starting tomorrow, a replay of today's webcast will be available at adm.com. Please turn to Slide 2, the company's safe harbor statement, which says that some of our comments and materials constitute forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results. These statements and materials are based on many assumptions and factors that are subject to risks and uncertainties. ADM has provided additional information in its reports on file with the SEC concerning assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the presentation. To the extent permitted under applicable law, ADM assumes no obligations to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events. On today's webcast, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Juan Luciano, will provide an overview of the quarter and highlight some of our accomplishments. Our Chief Financial Officer, Vikram Luthar, will review the drivers of our performance as well as corporate results and financial highlights. Then Juan will make some final comments, and he and Vikram will take your questions. Please turn to Slide 3. I will now turn the call over to Juan.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Thank you, Michael. This morning, we reported outstanding second quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.15. Adjusted segment operating profit was $1.8 billion, and our trailing fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA approached $6 billion. Our trailing fourth quarter average adjusted ROIC was 11.6%. Our team executed extremely well in the second quarter, navigating dynamic conditions to deliver nutrition to billions. Even as we work tirelessly to serve our customers and consumers around the globe, we are continuing to advance our strategy with productivity initiatives that are improving our efficiency and cost structure and innovation work that is powering profitable growth. Slide 4, please. Productivity is how we are improving our execution and optimizing costs; this is key to our long-term success but equally, our productivity work is helping us mitigate the impact of inflation. We have a very strong pipeline of productivity initiatives and I will be updating you on them regularly. There are two initiatives I'd like to highlight today. First is a set of operational transformation efforts we are driving across production facilities around the globe and spanning all three businesses. Earlier this year, we completed a modernization project in our Marshall, Minnesota corn facility that is unlocking significant new value through enhanced automation, more sophisticated control systems, and the increased use of analytics. We're already seeing double-digit returns on the investment we made in that project. This is an example of the kinds of projects we're undertaking across our operational footprint, designed to unlock incremental volumes and deliver safer, more reliable, more cost-effective operations. Second, as we look to continue to grow returns, we want to focus not only on the numerator but also the denominator. Our original $1 billion challenge and its follow-up, the next billion, help us drive to 10% ROIC. Earlier this year, we launched a new challenge aimed at monetizing assets and optimizing working capital to unlock another $1 billion in cash, helping us to continue to drive returns. In fact, we have already realized more than $400 million. Next slide, please. We're also advancing our innovation pillar, fueling profitable growth as we continue to expand our capabilities to meet demand across the three global trends of food security, health and well-being, and sustainability. For example, last November, we added significant new capabilities in our Health and Wellness business with the acquisition of Deerland Probiotics. Demand in the human microbiome space is expected to reach $9.1 billion by 2026. While in animal feed, probiotic demand is expected to grow to $6.2 billion. Deerland, with a broad portfolio of probiotics, prebiotics, and enzymes, provides a wide array of commercial, R&D, and operations-related synergy opportunities to help us meet that demand. And we're taking advantage of those opportunities from connecting our deal and capabilities with our Biopolis team in Spain to utilize sport probiotics in a functional chocolate bar; to bringing together our expertise to expand our capabilities in pet, a key growth category; to looking across teams to offer new types of dietary supplements. Thanks to the strong collaboration across the enterprise, Deerland today is increasing our share of wallet for customers in both human and pet solutions, and we're seeing similar outcomes from other recent investments as well. In the first half of the year, our combined portfolio of 2021 nutrition acquisitions has delivered significantly more OP than we had in our acquisition models. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Vikram to talk about our business performance. Vikram?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

Thanks, Juan. Slide 6, please. The Ag Services and Oilseeds team delivered exceptional results in a dynamic market. Ag Services results more than doubled versus the year-ago quarter. Global trade had an outstanding quarter. The destination marketing team's ability to meet customer demand around the globe helped drive strong volumes and margins. Good execution in global freight as well as net timing gains of about $65 million for the quarter contributed to significantly higher year-over-year profits. North America had a solid performance as export volumes remained strong in a good global demand environment, though year-over-year results were lower due to the prior year's insurance settlement and strong positioning gains. South America results were higher based on stronger origination volumes and better margins driven by strong global grain demand. Crushing delivered substantially higher results. Strong soy crush margins drove improved performance in all three regions as meal and oil demand remained robust. Positive net timing effects of approximately $90 million for the quarter versus the $70 million of negative timing in the year-ago period helped drive year-over-year results. Refined products and other results were similar to the prior year period as strong demand for biofuels and food oils drove refining premiums and biodiesel margins, offset by approximately $150 million of negative timing effects versus negative $30 million in the prior year quarter. Equity earnings from Wilmar were significantly higher versus the second quarter of 2021. Looking ahead for AS&O, we expect Q3, the seasonal transition quarter from the South American to the North American harvest, to deliver results significantly higher than the prior year period driven by continued strong global demand for grains and strong crush margins. Slide 7, please. The Carbohydrate Solutions team delivered a second quarter of extremely strong results. The Starches and Sweeteners subsegment, including ethanol production from our wet mills, delivered much better results due to solid demand as food service volumes reached close to pre-pandemic levels. Corn coproducts, including strong demand for corn oil and effective risk management, drove higher ethanol and sweetener margins. BioSolutions continued its strong growth with $81 million in year-over-year revenue growth in Q2 and $136 million year-to-date. Vantage Corn Processors results were slightly higher in an environment of good gasoline demand and strong ethanol blending economics. A $50 million recovery from the USDA Biofuel Producer Recovery Program helped offset the prior year's strong industrial alcohol results from the now-sold Peoria facility, as well as valuation losses on ethanol inventory as prices fell late in the quarter. Looking ahead to the third quarter, we expect results significantly higher versus the third quarter of 2021 driven by steady demand for our products and favorable ethanol blending economics. On Slide 8, the Nutrition business continued on its strong growth trajectory with 19% year-over-year profit growth. Revenues increased by 20% on a constant currency basis and 13% like-for-like, and the team did a good job protecting margins. Human Nutrition delivered higher year-over-year results. Flavors grew revenue in North America, EMEA, and South America, though profits were lower due to negative currency effects in EMEA as well as weaker results in APAC. Healthy demand for alternative proteins resulted in strong soy protein volumes and margins as contributions from the Sojaprotein acquisition, as well as good demand for texturants, drove higher results in Specialty Ingredients. Strength across probiotics, including in the recently acquired Deerland business, as well as robust demand for fibers contributed to a stronger quarter in Health & Wellness. Across the Human Nutrition business, we continue to see low price elasticity and good demand for our diverse portfolio of ingredients and systems as we continue to support our customers with new product and cost-out innovation and drive industry-leading win rates. Animal Nutrition profits were up substantially year-over-year driven by continued strong volumes and margins in amino acids. Looking ahead, we expect third quarter results for Nutrition to be higher year-over-year as the business remains on a trajectory to deliver 20% OP growth for the full year. Slide 9, please. Other business results increased from the prior year quarter driven primarily by higher ADM investor services earnings due to higher short-term interest rates. In the corporate lines, unallocated corporate costs of $267 million were slightly higher year-over-year due primarily to higher IT operating and project-related costs and higher costs in the company's centers of excellence. Net interest expense for the quarter increased year-over-year on higher rates and higher short-term borrowings to support working capital needs, as well as higher expense for long-term debt. The effective tax rate for the second quarter of 2022 was approximately 18%. Based upon our current outlook, we expect full year corporate costs to trend towards $1.3 billion versus our previous outlook of about $1.2 billion, largely due to higher year-over-year interest rates. We still expect our adjusted tax rate to be in the range of 16% to 19%. Next slide, please. Year-to-date operating cash flows before working capital of $3.2 billion are up significantly versus $2.2 billion at the same time last year. Our balance sheet remains solid with a net debt-to-total capital ratio of about 30% and available liquidity of about $11.5 billion. Driven by our strong cash flows and robust earnings, we expect to accelerate our share repurchase program, adding to the $200 million we repurchased in the second quarter of the year with an additional $1 billion in the back half. And of course, the strong cash flows and balance sheet also preserve our flexibility to continue reinvesting in the business and advancing upside growth opportunities. Our CapEx outlook is unchanged at approximately $1.3 billion for the year.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Thank you, Vikram. Slide 11, please. For context as we discuss our outlook, I would like to go back to the goals and drivers we laid out at our Global Investor Day in December. We talked about the plan in which our strategic productivity and innovation actions will continue to build a better ADM and align our portfolio to meet accelerating structural demand changes driven by the enduring global trends of food security, health and well-being, and sustainability, and how that would drive a strong earnings trajectory over the plan horizon. What has transpired since then is that some of the market factors have reinforced and further enhanced the value proposition of our diverse product portfolio and our integrated global network of assets. This helps drive stronger-than-expected margins. So while we may see some reversion in the medium term, we now believe that margin structures are generally higher than when we have laid out in December. We are on a trajectory to deliver a very strong second half, resulting in expected full year earnings above $6.50 per share. And as Vikram said, the strong cash flows we are generating will enable us to accelerate the timing of our share repurchase program with $1 billion in repurchases in the back half of the year. As we look beyond that, we have not changed our strategy, nor our expectations of strong earnings growth and returns over our plan horizon. As we laid out at our Global Investor Day, there are upside opportunities to our medium-term plan. But as we have already covered today, we are advancing those now and realizing higher value from them. Higher BioSolutions revenue growth, higher Health & Wellness OP contributions, the operational transformation across the enterprise, we expect these and more to add further upside in the medium term. The opportunities before us are significant. I'm proud of what our team has achieved, but I'm even more excited about what we're going to deliver tomorrow, next year, and in the years to come. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator, Operator

Our first question for today comes from Ben Bienvenu from Stephens.

Benjamin Bienvenu, Analyst

I have a broader conceptual question to ask first, followed by a more immediate one. My first question is regarding the accelerated share repurchase. I would like to know more about the decision-making process behind that significant choice. You mentioned strong underlying fundamentals in the business, and I assume there are aspects related to working capital that play a role, especially with commodity markets cooling off. Additionally, I would appreciate an update on your long-term capacity expansion plans and their progress. Should we consider share repurchase as a tool that can be adjusted based on M&A and the timing of long-term capital investments? That’s my first question.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Thank you, Ben, for your question. We are sticking to our balanced capital allocation strategy established a few years ago. We have always planned to reinvest about 30% to 40% of our free cash flow back into the business, which is essential for our growth strategy, both through acquisitions and organic growth. This remains our priority. We see promising opportunities ahead and will focus on our investment plan. However, we have a long history of paying dividends for 90 years, with more than 40 years of growth in dividends, and we intend to continue that. This year, we increased dividends by 8%. When we assess our distribution, we consider that 60% to 70% is available for strategic M&A opportunities or returning capital to shareholders. While current market valuations may be shifting, we do not have any significant acquisition targets at this time. Our team is actively searching for smaller acquisitions. Given our strong cash flows, we have chosen to continue returning funds to shareholders. I want to emphasize that we will maintain this balanced allocation. In our plan presented last December, we projected that as we approached $6 to $7 per share, we would have the capability to repurchase about $5 billion. Currently, we expect to exceed $6.50 per share, leading to accelerated buybacks. This trend remains consistent. Regarding your question on capacity increases, we are raising our capital expenditures to $1.3 billion and are expediting long lead equipment purchases this year to keep our capacity expansions on track. For our major projects, Spiritwood is still set to go online by the fall of 2023, and we are also expanding our bioactives capacity in Valencia, expected to come online in the first quarter of 2023, and that project is on schedule as well. Worldwide, we are ensuring we minimize risks as we have the resources to do so. Labor can be a challenging factor, particularly in North America, but at this stage, our plans are on track without any significant changes.

Benjamin Bienvenu, Analyst

My second question is about the current supply-demand challenges. You've mentioned your expectation for higher margins across your business, which makes sense given the larger structural changes in demand that are likely to support profitability in the coming years. However, we're starting to see a cyclical decline in demand as consumer conditions worsen. I believe your business is well positioned, but I'm interested in what you're monitoring concerning the declining consumer landscape and how that might impact the supply chain and value chain.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Yes. Ben, listen, we're watching the demand, of course. We work very closely with our customers and our farmers on this. I would say we have seen demand substitution, demand shifting here or there. You see it in retail, maybe to private label. We've seen a little bit of people looking into smaller packaging to make things more affordable. If I think of the big categories for ADM, food tends to be, despite all these comments, much more reliable and stable due to its essential nature. I think our fuels business, our biofuels business in general, is more tied to programs that are long term and to initiatives to reduce emissions and improve the climate over the long term, which also tends to be relatively firm. We see that with RGD bringing new demand for oil. So if we have any issue in edible oils, it has certainly been more than offset by the new demand on renewables. The area we keep a closer look on is animal feed. Animal feed has been impacted by this. We estimate around 10 million to 15 million tons on a global basis that we may have taken out of our SMBs globally. We've seen less of an impact on an OP perspective because as people trade down or if they trade down from beef, chicken is a cheaper and more affordable protein where we get most of the soybean meal sourced. If you think about what's happening with soybean meal, it has a cost advantage to corn, so it continues to have a high inclusion rate in categories that are more demanded right now, like poultry. Our Nutrition segment is well positioned in some of the applications that are growing the fastest, and of course, not completely insulated. To a certain degree, we haven't seen significant drops at this point in time. Our expansions continue forward, and you saw in our remarks that our acquisitions made last year are actually performing from an OP perspective better than in the economic model we put together.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Ben Theurer from Barclays.

Benjamin Theurer, Analyst

Good morning, Juan, Vikram. So my first question is also related a little bit to the picture you draw and you laid out just about 7 or 8 months ago during the Capital Markets Day back in December and you talked about the path to get to the $6 to $7. Now you're just at $6.50 for this year. But the one thing that kind of pops out is the significant strength and the up we’ve been seeing on the return on invested capital. And you still say your long-term objective is 10%, but now we've been consistently gone higher. So if we put it like into the context and your comments of the margin structure remaining higher, how should we think conceptually over the medium to long term? Where is your real ROIC objective given that you've been consistently above that 10% level? And what does that mean for your potential to return cash to shareholders via dividends and buybacks versus then ultimately the CapEx needs?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

Thanks, Ben, for the question. To give you some context, when we decided on the 10% ROIC target, it was based on an expectation of about 300 basis points above our long-term cost of capital. The long-term cost of capital has been around 7% for some time. As we look forward and see interest rates on the rise, there is a likelihood that over the medium term, the long-term WACC is going to increase. We still want to maintain our buffer or our spread versus that long-term WACC. So, yes, we are actually looking at growing our ROIC beyond the 10%. We haven't firmly established a new target. But clearly, as you've seen, we are well ahead of 10% on the back of a strong demand outlook for the medium term as well as strong discipline on the denominator from a balance sheet perspective. In terms of the capital allocation and the forward outlook, I think it's consistent with what Juan said. We expect we will be very disciplined and balanced in how we deploy that capital both in terms of reinvesting in the business. By the way, the opportunities to reinvest in the business are significant. Juan mentioned some, including the operational transformation. Much of that is not even baked into the medium-term plan we highlighted. We anticipate likely some additional reinvestment in the business, but that should still leave us enough flexibility to do share buybacks, potentially even in excess of $5 billion, as well as continue our pace of dividend growth as we've historically done over the last 40-plus years.

Benjamin Theurer, Analyst

Got it. That sounds very promising, Vikram. Coming back to the growth within the Nutrition segment, to frame it and understand it well what you're seeing in the back half here because you reconfirm the 20-ish percent growth in OP income. We've had a very strong first half. You expect next quarter to be better. Is there anything you think could be a little bit of a headwind in the short term just because people may be downgrading on the consumption side? You mentioned a bit about the packaging going to smaller sizes, et cetera, but to understand the risks versus the opportunities within Nutrition.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Yes. Ben, first of all, Nutrition is the business where we're probably exposed the most to the supply chain issues that everybody is talking about because we have a more variety of raw materials that we consume in all these formulations. That is always something that the team works very well to overcome. But that's an issue we watch very closely. Secondly, this business is also very strong in Europe, so there is a Forex exposure that we keep looking out for. Animal Nutrition volumes are a little bit more difficult, especially given the price point where we are. I would say those are the three levers that we keep watching to ensure we balance that. The business has done a terrific job of offsetting all that. Again, we still believe in our enhanced guidance from 15% to 20% for this year as we continue on the path to achieve our $1 billion operating profit objective probably next year. We feel good about the business, but it's not without a lot of active management.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Adam Samuelson from Goldman Sachs.

Adam Samuelson, Analyst

I wanted to dig into the outlook on oilseeds a bit. In your prepared remarks, you alluded to a mid-cycle or normalized medium-term kind of margin structure that moves higher, and I'd love to get a little more color on how your view over the medium-term has evolved there, especially in the context of a North American industry that is in the midst of some pretty healthy capacity expansions by you and many others.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Yes. Adam, we continue to see strong demand for meal and oil. North America has many advantages, including beans and robust domestic consumption. Additionally, North America has the new demand for oil, making soybean meal more competitive globally. We see good margins and volumes in poultry, as consumers favor that meat and soybean meal maintains a significant cost advantage against corn. We see China recovering from COVID, which aids demand, and Argentina facing challenges that limit competition. Overall, we maintain positive expectations for the second half, with strong performance expected for exports from the U.S.

Adam Samuelson, Analyst

That's really helpful. If I could switch gears over to Carbohydrate Solutions and specifically Starches and Sweeteners. There were very strong first-half results, and I'd like to understand how contributions split between volume growth, better ethanol profitability, coproducts, and overall risk management.

Vikram Luthar, CFO

Yes, Adam. So breaking it into volume, margin, and mix, in Sweeteners and Starches, we saw volumes in North America higher year-over-year in the first half, which differs from general marketplace trends. We benefit from an integrated network that allows us to effectively deliver to our customers. We've also imported tapioca starch from Europe to meet the demand. In terms of margin, we've benefited from higher coproduct values, including corn oil, which is helping net margins for Sweeteners and Starches. BioSolutions has driven stronger growth than anticipated. On all three fronts, volumes, margin, and mix, S&S looks brighter than we expected. Moreover, we maintain strong ethanol volumes and margins due to robust gasoline demand.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Ken Zaslow from Bank of Montreal.

Kenneth Zaslow, Analyst

Just a couple of questions. One is, how much dollar amount do you expect to increase in 2023 from your cost savings and your growth investments? How do we kind of think about that for 2023 in terms of the dollar amount that's going to be coming out from both your cost savings and your investments in growth?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

To provide context, going back to the Global Investor Day framework, we talked about productivity and innovation driving about $1.1 billion in aggregate each, while we expected market forces to contribute about $1 billion. For 2023, we haven't completed the specific plan yet, but you could assume a flat line over that four-year time frame. It's important to note we see additional opportunities on the horizon relating to operational transformation with digitization and automation. If we multiply that Marshall example, the upside could be even more significant, but we will provide more granularity on that in the future.

Juan Luciano, CEO

Yes. Ken, what I would like to add is that much of the productivity efforts this year have been used to offset inflation, and I think the team has done a terrific job protecting margins. Those efforts will continue. As inflation may subside next year, we might see more of that coming to actually improve our productivity rather than just offsetting inflation. The other aspect I observed is that we may see increased activity in innovation, with customers striving to fight inflation by bringing new categories and innovations. Some growth that wasn't included in our 5-year estimate, whether in Health and Wellness or BioSolutions, are emerging stronger and faster than anticipated. We usually start our planning season around late September or October, so we will be evaluating 2023 then.

Kenneth Zaslow, Analyst

Great. Just a clarification question. You mentioned the $6.50 number. That includes share repurchases. Does that seem conservative given the underlying fundamentals? Just wanted to touch base on that.

Vikram Luthar, CFO

To clarify, we did not say accelerated share repurchase. We did indicate we plan to do $1 billion in the back half of the year; however, the EPS impact for this year is minimal. The buyback impacts do not significantly alter the $6.50 number.

Kenneth Zaslow, Analyst

Okay. So just summing this all up, even as fundamentals stabilize at a higher level, your share repurchases, productivity, and growth initiatives can drive earnings higher in 2023, even if fundamentals stabilize. Is that fair?

Juan Luciano, CEO

Ken, we need to have certain ambidexterity at ADM. We have a team that executes well on opportunities presented by the market. We can't control all these opportunities, but we can maximize our execution. We know we will grow earnings over the next five years based on our initiatives. We haven't finalized 2023 figures yet. We must be cautious about the economic environment but are optimistic that demand for food will remain stable despite downturns. Our long-standing history shows that food demand trends upward. While margins may not stay at current levels, we expect them to stabilize at a higher level than previously. That's our basis for our forecast in December.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Steve Byrne of Bank of America.

Steve Byrne, Analyst

Vikram, you had some constructive comments about the third quarter for Ag Solutions and Oilseeds. Which of those two businesses is primarily driving that favorable outlook? In Ag Services, where do you see that strength coming from?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

Sure, Steve. In terms of AS&O, I'll break it up. For Ag Services, we expect strong performance in destination marketing. Our globally integrated network enables us to deliver effectively to customers. Given our North American positioning and expectations for reasonable crops, we anticipate benefiting from global demand for grain. As for Oilseeds, demand for oil remains robust, especially for food and renewables, leading to strong crush margins in North America. The fundamentals for both AS and O are strong for the second half of this year.

Steve Byrne, Analyst

You mentioned investing in sustainable agriculture initiatives. How meaningful of an opportunity do you see there? Are your food company customers willing to pay a premium for sustainably produced grains and oilseeds?

Juan Luciano, CEO

Steve, we are building a division within the business to look at certified or differentiated grains. There is a push from consumers through the CPGs toward these trends. We believe it will grow but expect minimal immediate earnings impact in the next two to three years. This initiative is aligned with sustainability trends but remains small, yet is continuing to accelerate. We are enhancing our economics and simplifying recognition to farmers who adopt sustainable practices, resulting in potential economic benefits in the future.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Tom Palmer of JPMorgan.

Tom Palmer, Analyst

Starting with crushing, margin information in the earnings presentation was encouraging, but we noticed that Board Crush weakened temporarily. What happened and why was the impact so temporary?

Juan Luciano, CEO

What we saw was some tightening in the U.S. and a palm oil correction affecting some oil. So we noticed a brief dip in board crush, but cash markets remained strong and constructive. Board crush has since rebounded. The cash margins have been consistently strong before, during, and after the volatility brought by the war. Our fundamentals continue strong, indicating we will maintain margin growth.

Tom Palmer, Analyst

Just following up on soybean oil. There's considerable renewable diesel capacity coming online later this year. What are you seeing in terms of demand there?

Juan Luciano, CEO

The demand continues as expected, though many players are in motion and dynamics are changing. We're seeing a general recovery in demand, and while there might be delays in some projects, we maintain strong demands in our forecast without substantial changes concerning edible oils.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Eric Larson of Seaport Research Partners.

Eric Larson, Analyst

From a macro level, recessions change fundamentals for grain demand. Are we in a position where even with a recession, fundamentals remain strong?

Juan Luciano, CEO

Prior to rising rates raising concerns about economic slowdowns or the war, our balance sheet was tight. We will be challenged to feed a growing global population, an estimated 2 billion more by 2050. Even during downturns, food demand remains essential and stable. While we don't expect substantial drops, production challenges may arise from weather, acreage limitations, and yield potential in the industry.

Eric Larson, Analyst

In the quarter, you added over $3 billion to your inventories. Does that mean you were able to buy more grain, leading to a larger inventory position?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

Our working capital from Q1 to Q2 has come down slightly, making it a function of both volumes and prices. There are correlations to prices, but also variances across our various businesses.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Steven Haynes of Morgan Stanley.

Steven Haynes, Analyst

I wanted to ask more about demand dynamics in China, as soybean imports seem to be trending down year-over-year. Are we at an inflection point there?

Juan Luciano, CEO

We have been in close contact with our China team regarding demand. Their growth rate has suffered an impact from COVID, but we see activity coming back, with consumers returning to offices. Notably, China has produced about 5% more of the four main meats in the first half of the year, which emphasizes the focus on food security. Overall, we remain optimistic as the easing of COVID limitations is leading to an increase in demand.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Robert Moskow of Credit Suisse.

Robert Moskow, Analyst

There's a lot of grain still trapped in Ukraine. What's your view on this, and how will it affect your business?

Juan Luciano, CEO

Our priorities are twofold: to support our employees' well-being now and in the future and to help the agricultural industry in Ukraine recover. There are about 20 to 30 million tons trapped in Ukraine, and we are working to increase land and river exports. Both countries are committed to keeping export corridors open, and although the situation can change frequently, we are optimistic about the gradual increase in exports, which is essential for the world's food supply.

Operator, Operator

Our final question for today comes from Michael Piken of Cleveland Research.

Michael Piken, Analyst

Within Nutrition, how much of your revenue growth came from new customers versus expansion of current customers? Also, on Animal Nutrition, how much of the growth was due to the favorability of the lysine market versus just internal operational improvements? And how sustainable is that?

Vikram Luthar, CFO

On Human Nutrition, it was a balanced growth across new customers and existing customers. In terms of Animal Nutrition, most growth is driven by amino acids, benefiting from overall protein demand and supply chain challenges from China, coupled with a conscious effort to switch from dry to liquid lysine. This has increased stickiness with our customers and improved profitability.

Michael Cross, Director of Investor Relations

Thank you for joining us today. Slide 12 notes upcoming investor events in which we will be participating. As always, please feel free to follow up with me if you have any other questions. Have a good day, and thanks for your time and interest in ADM.

Operator, Operator

Thank you all for joining today's call. You may now disconnect.