Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Good morning, everyone. Am I correct that your volume in the quarter was better than you had anticipated when we last spoke on the second quarter call?
Theo de Kool
It is better than previous. I think it is in line with our expectations of 2.4% and it’s better than year-to-date so far, so we are quite satisfied with that.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Okay, and another question I had was you indicated that there was a benefit from I think the closing of commodity contracts in the meats business. Could you quantify that?
Theo de Kool
Qualification of the commodities --
Aaron Hoffman
I think that’s in the bakery.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
I’m sorry, yes, in the bakery business -- was that a gain on hedging or something like that?
Theo de Kool
No, we have [inaudible] and we have hedges far out and there was a moment in time that we of course advantageous to close that hedge. We renewed it so we are still covered for the period ahead of time but it is a benefit that came into the quarter.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
And you are not going to quantify what that benefit was?
Theo de Kool
Correct.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
I’m sorry?
Theo de Kool
On a relatively low profit, that has a significant impact. That’s why we carved it out in the earnings release.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Okay but I didn’t see a number associated with that.
Theo de Kool
No, we didn’t give any numbers. For competitive reasons, we don’t disclose the exact numbers there but if -- we felt for disclosure reasons, we needed to mention that.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Okay, but if I look at the underlying operating profit going from $2 million to $14 million, can you give me any sort of indication of how much of a contributing factor that gain was?
Theo de Kool
No, I can’t give you an indication but there are gains from hedge accounting, actually, because of the lack of hedge accounting [here] to apply mark-to-market and that impacts the segment and [inaudible] that can reverse in next quarters.
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Okay, understood. And then finally, you noted in the North American beverage business that you had some difficulty in certain coffee segments. Could you just detail that a little further?
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