W. Christopher Wellborn
President and Chief Operating Officer, President, Global Ceramic at Mohawk Industries
Thanks, Jim. During the quarter, sales in our Global Ceramic segment remains soft across our regions. The industry is operating below historical levels and market competition to capture volume is affecting both our pricing and margins. Product mix is also declining as higher-value residential remodeling channel is softest and those customers undertaking new projects are selecting lower-cost options. Reduced energy prices are enhancing our results, though wages, benefits and other costs have increased.
We continue to execute cost reduction initiatives, including utilization of lower-cost materials, product reformulations and reductions in SG&A spending. We're driving productivity through increased efficiencies higher yields and consolidating our distribution network. Our investments in new printing, polishing and rectifying technologies are delivering higher value sales and formats to improve our mix. We are introducing decorative innovations with new glazes, three-dimensional surfaces and updated artisanal mosaics. We are launching larger formats in floor and wall tile and porcelain slabs along with smaller offerings that replicate handcrafted visuals. Our broad product offering, quality and service advantages are helping us expand business with both new and existing customers.
In the U.S., cold weather caused the suspension of operations at a number of our manufacturing facilities and service centers in January impacting our cost and revenue. Our Tennessee quartz countertop expansion should be completed later this year, and we're developing new products and enhanced marketing tools to support our additional capacity. The U.S. ceramic tile industry has filed a petition against India in response to widespread dumping of ceramic tile in the U.S. market and expects tariffs between 400% and 800% plus additional duties for subsidies. Other countries where we operate are considering similar actions.
In Europe, we're seeing robust growth in porcelain panel sales after our recent expansion and sales have also benefited from our new smaller and larger sized premium products. European energy prices have moved to lower levels than forecasted, which should benefit consumers. In Mexico and Brazil, we're optimizing our sales and improving our operations. We're implementing new distribution and product strategies in each country, so our brands complement each other in the marketplace.
In our Flooring Rest of World segment, markets remained soft despite declining inflation. In the quarter, our volumes increased from the prior year's low levels, which may be an indication of improving trends in our categories. So our results were impacted by pricing pressures as we pass through lower input costs in highly competitive markets.
Our QuickStep brand sales improved during the quarter as we realign price points, reflecting lower cost and increased marketing efforts to stimulate demand. We've completed the restructuring of our residential LVT program and are beginning to see the savings we anticipated. The change is delivering substantial growth in our residential rigid LVT, which is replacing our discontinued flexible products.
In Insulation, we've recently experienced material increases and are raising our prices accordingly. In our panels business, margins have declined from our cyclical high comparisons due to the underutilization of industry capacity partially offset by mix improvement in our decorative collections.
We've announced selective price increases and panels to reflect rising material cost. We continue to implement productivity initiatives and containment -- and cost containment projects across the business, including labor efficiencies, higher yields and alternative materials. We're enhancing our bolt-on acquisition in MDF Boards, sheet vinyl and mezzanine flooring and will complete our premium laminate expansion this year.
In Australia, New Zealand, reduced input costs and increased productivity offset lower pricing and volumes in a slow environment. In our Flooring North America segment, our results versus the prior year benefited from declining raw material and energy costs, partially offset by lower price and mix. While residential remodeling was generally weaker overall, market conditions vary depending on channel and product category. Sales improved through the quarter, though many retailers in some of our facilities were temporarily closed in January due to weather.
Lower market demand and consumers trading down are creating a competitive marketplace, pressuring average selling prices and product mix. Based on builder optimism, new single-family home sales should improve through the year, positively impacting our flooring business. Commercial sales continue to outperform residential led by the specified hospitality, retail and government channels. Retailers are embracing our new residential product launches, including Pet Premier carpet and PureTech resilient planks.
We're optimizing sales of our consolidated coordinated accessories and growing our recently acquired rubber trim business. We're increasing the sales of our nonwoven acquisition with new customers and product expansions. Our West Coast LVT facility is increasing production, and our Georgia restructuring initiatives are being implemented. During the quarter, we delivered productivity gains across the segment with operational improvements, better yields and enhanced logistics. I'll return the call to Jeff for closing remarks.
