Note 4 - Inventories

9 Months Ended

Jan. 01, 2022

Notes to Financial Statements

Inventory Disclosure [Text Block]

4. Inventories

The Company uses the last-in, first-out (“LIFO”) method of valuing inventory. An actual valuation of inventory under the LIFO method is made at the end of each fiscal year based on the inventory levels and costs at that time. Accordingly, interim LIFO calculations are based on management’s estimates of expected year-end inventory levels, production pack yields, sales and the expected rate of inflation or deflation for the year. The interim LIFO calculations are subject to adjustment in the final year-end LIFO inventory valuation.

As of January 1, 2022 and December 26, 2020, first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) based inventory costs exceeded LIFO based inventory costs, resulting in a LIFO reserve of $159.3 million and $140.0 million, respectively. In order to state inventories at LIFO, the Company recorded an increase to cost of products sold of $19.0 million for the three months ended January 1, 2022 as compared to a decrease to cost of products sold of $4.7 million for the three months ended December 26, 2020. For the nine months ended January 1, 2022, the Company recorded an increase to cost of products sold of $30.7 million as compared to a decrease to cost of products sold of $4.3 million for the nine months ended December 26, 2020.

The following table shows inventory by category and the related LIFO reserve (in thousands):

			As of:
	January 1,		December 26,		March 31,
	2022		2020		2021
Finished products	$	515,225	$	421,987		317,654
In process		26,468		38,552		25,175
Raw materials and supplies		99,611		90,387		128,987
		641,304		550,926		471,816
Less excess of FIFO cost over LIFO cost		159,326		139,999		128,672
Total inventories	$	481,978	$	410,927	$	343,144