J. Mitchell Dolloff
President and Chief Operating Officer, President -- Bedding Products at Leggett & Platt
Thank you, Karl, and good morning, everyone. First, I would like to thank our employees for driving record second quarter results. Your commitment, resolve and ingenuity allowed us to navigate raw material constraints, labor shortages and freight challenges to service our customers in a very strong demand environment. Your efforts and accomplishments are greatly appreciated. We had strong operating performance in the second quarter as sales have recovered to near or above pre-pandemic levels in most of our businesses.
Supply chain disruptions continued throughout the quarter, most notably in chemicals, semiconductors, labor and transportation, constraining volume growth. While we are seeing incremental improvements in many of these areas, they continue to create volatility in both supply and in cost. Given the significant pandemic-related impact to last year's second quarter results, my comments will compare our segment and business unit results to second quarter 2019, which provides a more meaningful insight to our quarterly operating performance.
Sales in our Bedding Products segment were up 7% versus the second quarter of 2019, primarily from raw material related selling price increases from inflation in steel, chemicals and nonwoven fabrics. Volume was down in part due to exited business in Fashion Bed and Drawn Wire. Volume was also lower due to foam shortages and labor availability, which continue to constrain the U.S. mattress production, negatively impacting component demand and our finished goods production.
Availability of chemicals used in our specialty foam operation improved during the second quarter, but at a slower pace than anticipated, due to supplier production disruptions and logistics challenges. While supply improved, chemical allocations could persist to some degree throughout the remainder of the year. In U.S. Spring, our planned Comfort Core capacity expansion is largely in place, and we have built inventory of Comfort Core innersprings to fulfill customer requirements as foam becomes more readily available. Demand in our European bedding business was strong throughout the second quarter, but recently, we are seeing some signs of seasonal softening over the summer months.
Long term, we anticipate more growth opportunities in Europe with the Kayfoam acquisition. Similar to the trends we've seen in the U.S. bedding market over the past several years, European consumers are purchasing more mattresses online and in compressed form, increasing demand for specialty foam and hybrid mattresses. Adjusted EBITDA margins in the segment improved over the two-year period, primarily from pricing discipline, expanded metal margins in our Steel Rod business and fixed cost actions taken last year.
Sales in our Specialized Products segment were down 9% for the second quarter of 2019 due to lower volume across the segment. In our Automotive business, volume was down over the two-year period, primarily from recent semiconductor shortages. Industry production was heavily impacted in April and May with many OEMs reducing or completely shutting down production of some models. Supply is expected to slowly improve, but we anticipate these shortages to continue through at least the first half of 2022. In our Aerospace business, demand for fabricated duct assemblies is near second quarter 2019 levels, but demand for welded and seamless tube products is still well below pre-pandemic levels.
With the lingering impact from pandemic-related disruption in air travel and resulting buildup of aircraft and supply chain inventories, the industry is not anticipated to return to 2019 demand levels until 2024. End market demand in Hydraulic Cylinders is very strong with the surge in lift truck orders. However, global supply chain constraints and labor availability have hampered the OEMs' ability to ramp up production. We expect our sales to increase as OEM production increases, but supply chain constraints in this business could persist into early 2022. EBITDA margins in the segment declined over the two-year period, primarily from lower volume, partially offset by fixed cost actions taken last year.
Sales in our Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products segment were up 11% versus the second quarter of 2019, driven by demand strength in home furniture and geo components. We expect strong market demand in our Home Furniture products business for the remainder of the year and into 2022. In our Geo Components business, private construction and retail market demand is strong. Demand in our Fabric Converting business softened due to the foam constraints that are impacting bedding and furniture manufacturers. As foam availability improves, we anticipate sales to rebound.
In Flooring products, residential end market demand is above pre-pandemic levels, whereas hospitality demand remains well below 2019 levels. And while recovery in Work Furniture lags the other businesses in this segment over the two-year comparison period, we continue to see strong demand for products sold for residential use and are beginning to see some improved demand in the contract market. Adjusted EBITDA margins in the segment increased over the two-year period, primarily from improvement in our Home Furniture business and fixed cost actions taken last year.
Overall, the fixed cost actions we took last year reduced our second quarter cost by approximately $20 million versus the second quarter of 2019. Across all of our businesses, we are focused on controlling costs by keeping our variable cost structure aligned with demand levels and only adding fixed costs as necessary to support higher volumes and future growth opportunities. We have planned to increase production in our Steel Rod, Drawn Wire and U.S. Spring businesses through the second and third quarter to allow U.S.
Spring to build inventory in order to meet anticipated customer demand as foam and labor availability improves across the industry. In the fourth quarter, we will also take our rod mill out of operation for three weeks to replace the reheat furnace. As a result, higher levels of inventory in these businesses are expected through the remainder of the year. The inventory build and sales will likely alter our normal seasonal cash flow cycle to some degree.
I'll now turn the call over to Jeff.