Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Covestro Group – Notes to the Income Statement

6. Sales

Sales are categorized according to “geographical regions and key countries” and mainly comprise sales from contracts with customers. The table also contains a reconciliation of the breakdown of sales to the reportable segments.

The following table presents the opening and closing balances of trade accounts receivable, contract assets, and contract liabilities.

Contract assets are recognized in case the right to consideration in exchange for goods or services that have been transferred is conditional. This occurs primarily in the event of goods delivered to external customers’ consignment warehouses. Where sales are made through consignment warehouses, customers primarily obtain control over the delivered goods upon delivery to the consignment warehouse. Accordingly, contract assets are generally recognized as trade accounts receivable when invoiced. 

Contract liabilities are recognized for advance payments received from customers prior to transferring goods or services. These contract liabilities are recognized as sales when the goods or services have been transferred.

Sales from performance obligations satisfied (or partially satisfied) in previous periods and recognized in fiscal 2023 amounted to €5 million (previous year: €1 million).

The changes in contract assets and contract liabilities in the reporting period resulted from the following circumstances:

The following table presents the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations as of the reporting date. It is broken down by the reporting periods in which recognition is expected:

The disclosures on the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations are based on long-term supply contracts within the meaning of IFRS 15 (Revenue from Contracts with Customers) which stipulate minimum volumes to be purchased as agreed between both parties.

Performance obligations from contracts with an original expected term of 12 months or less are excluded. Similarly, the disclosure excludes performance obligations satisfied over a certain period of time for which Covestro has the right to consideration in an amount that corresponds directly with the value of the performance completed to date and for which Covestro may recognize sales in the amount to which Covestro has the right to invoice.

The transaction price only includes variable consideration arising from contracts with customers, like sales-based or volume-based rebates or price formulas, for which the prices are derived from external, market-based indices, to the extent that they are not constrained as defined in IFRS 15.