B. INVENTORIES:

The amount of inventories valued on the LIFO basis was $32,744,000 and $27,788,000 as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and consists of housewares/small appliance finished goods and certain Safety segment inventories. Under LIFO, inventories are valued at approximately $3,982,000 and $4,024,000 below current cost determined on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, $85,000, $26,000, and $64,000, respectively, of a LIFO layer was liquidated. The Company uses the LIFO method of inventory accounting to improve the matching of costs and revenues for the Housewares/Small Appliance and Safety segments.

The following table describes that which would have occurred if LIFO inventories had been valued at current cost determined on a FIFO basis:



Increase (Decrease) – (In thousands, except per share data)
Year	Cost of Sales		Net Earnings		Earnings Per Share
2019	$	42	$	(34)	$	-
2018	$	(189)	$	143	$	0.02
2017	$	(1,250)	$	830	$	0.12

This information is provided for comparison with companies using the FIFO basis.

Inventory for Defense and raw materials of the Housewares/Small Appliance segments are valued under the FIFO method and total $95,792,000 and $66,200,000 at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. At December 31, 2019, the FIFO total was comprised of $751,000 of finished goods, $87,805,000 of work in process, and $7,236,000 of raw material. At December 31, 2018, the FIFO total was comprised of $1,003,000 of finished goods, $59,580,000 of work in process, and $5,617,000 of raw material.