Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Yes. Your first question comes from the line of Chris Agnew from Goldman Sachs. Please proceed.
Chris Agnew - Goldman Sachs
Hi, thank you. Good morning. I really want to focus on the gross margin and try and get my head around, I guess, the timing of the changes you're making and maybe a little more color on some of the impacts. You mentioned that the decreases in each segment due to price pressure, commodity costs and mix shift. I guess going one by one, in the pricing pressure are you seeing that, is that fairly broad-based? If I take the Electronics/EMS segment, you have four markets, and you were seeing growth in three of them. Are you seeing pricing pressure across three of those, or is the growth mainly coming from volume?
On the commodity costs, how much ability do you have to defray that through locking in long-term agreements or to push back on suppliers?
And then, finally, the mix shift, can you give me a little bit more color on helping to think about how that plays out through the year? Was there a particular factor that was one-time or will that mix shift continue through the rest of this year. I'm sorry if that was a bit long. Thank you.
Jim Thyen
Okay, Chris. We'll try to take them in the order of questions that you posed, and if we miss one, please bring us back on track. In terms of the commodity cost increases, they are fairly broad. The basic change in food and fuel prices and commodity costs, we're seeing them across the entire spectrum.
Now the electronics portion did not emerge as quickly as the commodity areas in our furniture segment. But they are emerging. There are a number of factors there in global supply chain, particularly in Asia, that are changing the cost structure of our Asian suppliers, some of them regulation-based, some of them quality of life-based in China, what have you. And it's generally emergent. We think it's a global demand base. It's not something that's going to subside in the near term. And I think that we would all agree that that seems to be consistent in all the things that we read.
In terms of competitive pressures, the competitive market pressures on pricing are pretty strong on all areas, electronics, as well as furniture. And it varies by project, by program and by vertical market depending on what the drivers are that those various vertical markets are experiencing at this time.
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