Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Jeff Zekauskas from J.P. Morgan.
Analyst for Jeffrey J. Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
Good morning. This is [Silka] for Jeff. If you look at both the industrial sales and the consumer sales on a sequential basis, were there any items that led to the sale growth? Were there any sales that may have gotten pushed from the May quarter into the August quarter or are there any sales that may have been pulled forward from future quarters into August?
Frank C. Sullivan
No. I mean, certainly not that we are aware of. I think the things that drove our sales in the consumer segment were very strong volume that was consistent across each month of the quarter in our type of low ticket item, high value DIY maintenance and repair products. We had seen signs of that, as you’ll recall, in the spring and while it’s not exactly right to tie big macroeconomic trends to the results of a company like RPM, certainly to the extent there is one in our consumer segment, it would be housing turnover in North America which with the pick-up of the sale of foreclosed homes started kind of in January and February, a strengthening on a regional basis of either housing turnover and housing prices were something that we think is one of the major factors that is helping to drive takeaway.
We’ve also introduced some new products. There’s a Rustoleum 2X product out there that is moving very nicely. The DAP 3.0 product that was introduced more than a year ago just in time for the recession is now moving pretty quickly, so we picked up share in a number of major automotive accounts, and so I think those are the principal factors that drove sales growth in the quarter in consumer.
On the industrial side, obviously it was really a function of benefiting from the expense reductions last year and stronger pricing power in our industrial businesses versus our consumer businesses, which mitigated what otherwise you would expect a harder hit on our bottom line given the earnings declines we experienced in the quarter.
Analyst for Jeffrey J. Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
And if I can ask one question on the asbestos side, the 12-month reserve was lifted from $65 million to $75 million. What’s the underlying reason for that?
Frank C. Sullivan
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