Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) And we'll go first to Claudia Hueston with JPMorgan.
Claudia Hueston – JPMorgan
Hi, thanks very much. Good morning.
Henry J. Theisen
Good morning Claudia.
Claudia Hueston – JPMorgan
You talked about some sequential pickup in your flexible packaging businesses and I was wondering if you could just characterize the pickup that you saw in the third quarter, versus what would normally happen, sort of third quarter versus second quarter?
Henry J. Theisen
I think it was very much like it normally is. Normally, we have good second and third quarters. Generally, they are about the same. So, I think in this case, we saw just a little more pickup than we normally would have expected, but it is in a drastic difference.
Claudia Hueston – JPMorgan
Okay. And then in Europe, it sounded like, you've made very good progress there, I was pleased to hear about the double-digit margins, could you just talk a little bit more about what's driving that and maybe what volume trends look like in Europe?
Henry J. Theisen
What's really driving our growth in Europe is our polyester technology in our platforms. In Europe, a lot of sliced meat, sliced lunch and meats or fishes were sold in a rigid polyester with a polyethylene sealing and then the list stock would be in oriented polyester with a polyethylene sealing. Our technology is to make a multi layer film and that was really the investment that we made in 7-layer blown film equipment. Allows us to make a polyester sealing that eliminates the use of polyethylene altogether. So, not only are we able to decrease the weight of the polymers that we are using by about a third, we are also able to put it in the polyester recycle stream. And that is generating the real growth, and that generates savings for our customers and it generates better margins for ourselves.
Claudia Hueston – JPMorgan
Okay. And then just the overall trends in terms of European volumes, how would you characterize those in the quarter?
Henry J. Theisen
I think they were rather flat.
Claudia Hueston – JPMorgan
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
We will take our next question from Ghansham Punjabi with Robert W. Baird.
Ghansham Punjabi – Robert W. Baird
Yes, good morning.
Henry J. Theisen
Good morning, Ghansham.
Ghansham Punjabi – Robert W. Baird
So, just as a follow-up to Claudia's question, if volume is pretty much tracked in line with expectations was there something else that drove the upside? Was it raw material spreads or maybe performance in Europe?
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