Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Hamed Khorsand with BWS Financial; please proceed.
Hamed Khorsand - BWS Financial
Good morning. Just one question for clarity, and I’ll continue. Could you repeat the cash number you just said, because it was different from what you reported in the press release?
John Sheptor
I hope it wasn’t. The number I was talking about was at July 31, not June 30, it was updated to July 31. I don’t want to miss dates, so let me check. $55 million of cash at July 31.
Hamed Khorsand - BWS Financial
Okay, thank you. My question is, you’re seeing some growth on the distributor side over the last couple of quarters, how much of that is related to the Wholesome Sweeteners?
John Sheptor
Wholesome is not consolidated in those numbers. So the short answer Hamed is, none of that’s related to Wholesome. That’s really growth in servicing the distributor channel and then putting the foodservice distributors and really more of a function of available supply than anything, when compared to a quarter or a year ago.
Hamed Khorsand - BWS Financial
Okay, and then how much of inventory will you be using; no, let me rephrase; how much is left of those ’08 contracts for the industrial customers?
Hal Mechler
I think what we said and I realized it’s early, you probably haven’t read the 10-Q yet, and I apologies for the timing of this call for U.S. participants, but I think what we say in the 10-Q is that those old contracts constituted 30% of the current quarter sales and we expect them to continue in a declining percentage through the end of calendar 2009.
Hamed Khorsand - BWS Financial
Okay, and then my final question is, right now it seems like you’re on a trend that’s very similar to what we saw back in ’06, ’07 from a pricing mix scenario. Do you think we might see prices increase to those levels again?
Hal Mechler
Of course, I’m going to disclaim a forward looking statement in that area Hamed, but certainly if you look at USDA data relative to supply demand, the numbers are not dissimilar to what we saw immediately after Katrina in 2005.
The question relative to where domestic pricing going has of course multifaceted and will certainly be influenced by USDA actions including import allowances. Mexico obviously has changed the equation a little bit since 2005, 2006, so the size of their crop and their appetite for exports to the U.S. also will have an impact.
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