Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Chuck Bradford.
Chuck Bradford - Soleil (Bradford Research)
Hello?
John P. McConnell
Good morning. You just now came on kind of mid-sentence there, so if you would start over, please.
Chuck Bradford - Soleil (Bradford Research)
First of all, good morning. Secondly, could you quantify the FIFO gains for the quarter?
John P. McConnell
They were a significant part of our earnings, that part is clear. They were different in each of our businesses, to an extent, largely affecting the metal framing and steel processing the most. But beyond that, we’re not going to give you a number.
Chuck Bradford - Soleil (Bradford Research)
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from James [Perry]. Please state your organization.
James Perry - Perimeter Capital Management
Could you tell us what happened, what was different about how you mitigated the high steel prices and then the correction that occurred in the quarter? Did you do anything differently? Have you focused on that more than usual?
John P. McConnell
I’m not certain I grasp exactly what you are after here but we certainly have been working to improve our performance and thereby mitigating any ill effects of lower priced steel coming through the inventories. That’s an effect that really hasn’t been felt as yet. Prices have largely plateaued. There is some slight softening of pricing from different mills but there’s certainly been no steep retreat as far as pricing goes.
James Perry - Perimeter Capital Management
Well, you mentioned that your inventory is going to be down 10%, so are you trying to overall lower your inventory the next couple of quarters?
John P. McConnell
Yes, I didn’t -- I’m sorry, I missed that as the primary focus but yes, we are very focused on our inventories. George is working with the presidents. They have a good plan and the art of which, by the way, besides the idea of doing it, is always keeping ahead of a forward slope that continues to fall in front of you and that’s the hard part of it but I think they are doing an excellent job and very focused on it. George, you might want to comment further.
George P. Stoe
Well, I think just operationally, what we try to do is that we recognize that each month, we are not going to have the inventories exactly where we want them to be for a variety of reasons, either order rates fall off or other things can happen, mills may shift early or late. And what we try to do is to make sure that we have a system in place and a process I place that allows us to get the inventories back in balance where we want them to be 60 days out, and we drive towards that each month as we go forward.
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