Note 9. Benefit Plans

Pension Plans

Prior to the July 2, 2015 closing of the coffee business transactions, certain active employees who transitioned to JDE participated in our Non-U.S. pension plans. Following the transactions, benefits began to be provided directly by JDE to participants continuing with JDE. JDE assumed certain pension plan obligations and received the related plan assets. As of July 2, 2015, we reduced our net benefit plan liabilities by $146 million and the related deferred tax assets by $25 million. Refer to Note 2, Divestitures and Acquisitions – Coffee Business Transactions, for more information. For all remaining participants, we retained the plan obligations and related plan assets.

Components of Net Periodic Pension Cost:

Net periodic pension cost consisted of the following:


	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans
	For the Three Months Ended September 30,						For the Three Months Ended September 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
	(in millions)

Service cost	$	16		$	14		$	44		$	47
Interest cost		16			16			77			99
Expected return on plan assets		(23	)		(21	)		(120	)		(123	)
Amortization:
Net loss from experience differences		11			7			33			26
Prior service cost ⁽¹⁾		–			–			–			–
Settlement losses ⁽²⁾		2			14			–			(5	)

Net periodic pension cost	$	22		$	30		$	34		$	44


	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans
	For the Nine Months Ended September 30,						For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
	(in millions)

Service cost	$	48		$	42		$	145		$	136
Interest cost		50			49			231			296
Expected return on plan assets		(70	)		(61	)		(358	)		(371	)
Amortization:
Net loss from experience differences		33			22			110			80
Prior service cost ⁽¹⁾		1			1			16			1
Settlement losses ⁽²⁾		15			20			–			5

Net periodic pension cost	$	77		$	73		$	144		$	147

(1)

For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, amortization of prior service cost includes $17 million of pension curtailment losses related to employees who transitioned to JDE upon the contribution of our global coffee business. Refer to Note 2,Divestitures and Acquisitions – Coffee Business Transactions, for more information.

(2)

Settlement losses include $1 million for the three months and $7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 of pension settlement losses for employees who elected lump-sum payments in connection with our 2014-2018 Restructuring Program. See Note 6, Restructuring Programs, for more information. We recorded an additional $49 million of pension settlement losses related to the coffee business transactions within the gain on the coffee business transactions. Refer to Note 2, Divestitures and Acquisitions – Coffee Business Transactions, for more information.

Employer Contributions:

We make contributions to our U.S. and non-U.S. pension plans primarily to the extent that they are tax deductible and do not generate an excise tax liability. During the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we contributed $211 million to our U.S. plans and $212 million to our non-U.S. plans. Based on current tax law, we plan to make further contributions of approximately $3 million to our U.S. plans and approximately $114 million to our non-U.S. plans during the remainder of 2015. However, our actual contributions may differ due to many factors, including changes in tax and other benefit laws or significant differences between expected and actual pension asset performance or interest rates.

Postretirement Benefit Plans

Net postretirement health care costs consisted of the following:


	For the Three Months Ended						For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30,						September 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
	(in millions)

Service cost	$	4		$	4		$	11		$	10
Interest cost		5			5			17			16
Amortization:
Net loss from experience differences		3			1			10			4
Prior service credit		(1	)		(3	)		(5	)		(8	)

Net postretirement health care costs	$	11		$	7		$	33		$	22

Postemployment Benefit Plans

Net postemployment costs consisted of the following:


	For the Three Months Ended				For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
	(in millions)

Service cost	$	2	$	2	$	5	$	6
Interest cost		1		2		4		5

Net postemployment costs	$	3	$	4	$	9	$	11