Note 4 - Inventories

6 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Inventories

First-In, First-Out (“FIFO”) based inventory costs exceeded LIFO based inventory costs by

$163,193,000

as of the end of the

second

quarter of fiscal

2018

as compared to

$156,351,000

as of the end of the

second

quarter of fiscal

2017.

The change in the LIFO Reserve for the

three

months ended

September 30, 2017

was an increase of

$12,053,000

as compared to an increase of

$1,361,000

for the

three

months ended

October 1, 2016.

The LIFO Reserve increased by

$19,354,000

in the

first

six

months of fiscal

2018

compared to an increase of

$2,413,000

in the

first

six

months of fiscal

2017.

This reflects the projected impact of an overall cost increase expected in fiscal

2018

versus fiscal

2017.