Steven Cahillane
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Kellanova
Thanks, Amit. I'll start with a review of each of our regions, beginning with Kellogg North America on slide number 23. This region had an exceptionally good quarter, posting notably strong net sales growth with growth in both volume and price/mix. And this top line performance drove good growth in operating profit as well. Our sales growth was led by our largest business, Snacks, which accelerated because of in-market momentum, revenue growth management and replenishment of trade inventory. We obviously feel very good about our Snacks business going into the second half. Cereal also posted strong net sales growth in the second quarter, driven both by volume as we replenished both our and retailers' inventories and by price/mix as we executed revenue growth management actions. We feel that our recovery is on firm footing as we enter the second half. And as we get past the fire and strike impact, we are in the early stages of recovering our profit margins in this business as well. In Frozen, net sales growth in our from the griddle Eggo business was offset by the decline in our plant-based business, with the latter experiencing supply disruptions at a co-manufacturer. Both businesses are expected to have a better second half, aided by improved capacity and supply.
Overall, North America turned in a very good first half, considering its enormous supply obstacles and is poised to sustain top line growth while improving bottom line performance in the second half even as we restore investment. Kellogg Europe's results are shown on slide number 24. The second quarter was another good one for this region. Revenue growth management actions have sustained good price/mix growth with an extra boost from country and category mix with elasticity impact on volume returning, particularly in cereal but not as quickly as we had anticipated. Snacks, which represent almost half of our annual Kellogg Europe net sales, continued to deliver strong growth, both in net sales and in consumption. This has been led by sustained momentum in Pringles but also our portable wholesome snacks brands, which are benefiting from both a resumption in consumer mobility but also from our increased focus on revitalizing these brands. In Cereal, our net sales growth was fairly broad-based across the region, led by effective revenue growth management actions, though with signs of increasing price elasticity in Continental Europe. Going into the second half, we expect to sustain momentum in Snacks even as we absorb a larger impact of halting shipments into Russia and working through general supply tightness. And across the business, we'll continue to leverage revenue growth management and productivity to help mitigate the impact of what will be accelerating cost pressures.
Kellogg Latin America, shown on slide number 25, also had a solid quarter two. Its high single-digit net sales growth was driven by price mix and in-market momentum even if we did start to see the rising price elasticity, particularly in Cereal. In Snacks, which represent more than 1/3 of our annual net sales in Latin America, we continued to drive very strong growth across the region, including share gains in our key markets. In Cereal, net sales grew in most markets and we continued to gain share overall, led by Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Cost inflation has been higher in our emerging markets than in our developed markets and further exacerbated by adverse transactional foreign exchange. And while this led to margin pressure in Kellogg Latin America, we did see sequential moderation in the second quarter, and this helped drive year-on-year growth in operating profit. In the second half, we expect to sustain sales and profit growth even as we work to offset accelerated cost inflation. We'll finish our regional review with Kellogg EMEA in slide number 26. During the second quarter, our high teens net organic sales growth was very similar to that of quarter one and even the full year of 2021. The growth reflects primarily our revenue growth management actions as we work to protect dollar profit from the highest cost inflation of any region in our company, with ocean freight being a particular driver of this higher cost pressure.
This enabled us to continue to post solid operating profit growth in quarter two despite the pressure on margins. Leading EMEA's growth in quarter two and the first half were Noodles & Other, which make up almost half of the region's annual net sales and which sustained its strong momentum in Africa. Snacks, representing about 1/5 of EMEA's annual net sales, also sustained organic net sales growth of more than 20% with gains across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Australia driven by momentum in Pringles. In cereal, which generates about 1/3 of our EMEA annual net sales, also posted good broad-based net sales growth with notable strength in Australia, India and the Middle East. For the second half, strong top line and profit growth are expected for this region. Now let's take a step back and look at slide number 27, which groups our portfolio into the businesses that will comprise each of the three post-separation companies. We continue to see strong momentum in the businesses that represent 80% of our portfolio today and that will comprise Global Snacking Co. after the separations. Our snacks businesses around the world continue to show good momentum with organic net sales growth in the double digits during the first half. This double-digit growth is coming from all four regions, and it was faster in quarter two than it was in quarter one.
And as we'll see in a moment, this growth is being led by world-class brands. Noodles & Other, which is predominantly in Africa and the Middle East, continues to post double-digit growth, both in the quarter and the half, aided by higher prices and expanded distribution. International cereal posted low single-digit growth in the first half, led by emerging markets, which make up almost half of our international cereal sales and continue to post good growth in growing categories. And in frozen breakfast, we delivered low single-digit growth despite being constrained on capacity during the quarter. Putting them all together, the Global Snacking Co. businesses collectively have generated double-digit organic basis net sales growth so far this year. For North America Cereal Co., 2022 is all about recovery of supply, and as we'll discuss in a moment, this recovery is off to a faster-than-expected start. Its lack of inventory pulled down sales sharply in the first quarter but it grew substantially year-on-year in quarter two, bringing its first half net sales performance to a very low single-digit decline.
The only post-spin business where there was softness in quarter two was in Plant Co., which has experienced some supply disruption which we'll discuss in a moment. Let's look at each of these businesses and their key brands. When we turn to slide number 28, we can see that our world-class snacks brands have continued to perform well in market this year around the world. Pringles with $2.5 billion in annual net sales globally remains in an impressive form. It has generated double-digit consumption growth in most of our biggest markets around the world. Cheez-It with over $1 billion of annual net sales has continued to drive share gains in the cracker category, both in the U.S. and in Canada with our new Puff'd platform off to a strong start and incremental to the core line. Pop-Tarts closing in on $1 billion of annual net sales continues to post good growth in its core U.S. market while showing excellent promise in international markets. The same goes for Rice Krispies Treats with $0.5 billion of annual net sales and double-digit consumption growth in key markets this year. These four brands collectively represented more than 40% of the total 2021 net sales of what will be Global Snacking Co.
On slide number 29, we see continued strong retail sales growth across key international cereal markets also led by world-class brands. In Europe, the cereal category has slowed, resuming more price elasticity than other regions, and our consumption is lapping a notably strong 2-year period, but we continue to drive good growth in key brands. In emerging markets, which represent about half of our international cereal sales annually, consumption growth remains robust, both for us and the category. We're seeing strong high single-digit consumption growth in Latin America with share gains in key markets like Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. And in EMEA, we're seeing mid-single-digit consumption growth across the region and share gains in markets ranging from Australia to Korea to Saudi Arabia to South Africa. Slide number 30 shows another growth business for us, Noodles & Other. This is comprised of our distributor business in West Africa and our Kellogg's branded noodle business elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East. This is a $1 billion-plus business that has consistently posted double-digit or high single-digit growth quarter after quarter after quarter. This reflects the competitive advantage Multipro offers as well as the value of offering a Kellogg's product line at the lower end of the price pyramid.
Turning to frozen breakfast on slide number 31. Our Eggo brand continues to perform well even despite being constrained on capacity, particularly in waffles and pancakes. The good news is that additional waffles capacity came on stream late in quarter two, and innovation like the more portable style waffle is off to a good start. With about $750 million in annual net sales globally, this is yet another world-class brand and reliable grower that continues to show momentum. Now let's turn to our U.S. cereal business on slide number 32. As we've discussed, 2022 is all about recovering supply after severe disruptions in late 2021. And as we mentioned earlier, we are ahead of plan in terms of rebuilding inventory, both our own and that of our retail partners. As supply has improved, so have our total distribution points and so has our share. In fact, we've now recovered more than four share points since the start of the year. And we have only recently resumed commercial activity and even then, only on certain brands. And this improving trend has continued into July. On slide number 33, the chart on the left shows how the overall category has accelerated growth lately on the strength of our increased prices and below-average elasticity.
It also shows our supply-driven turnaround quite clearly and how we have already begun to catch up on the category. And this trend continued into July. The chart on the right offers a view of how our five largest brands are recovering share after hitting lows in the fourth quarter and the aftermath of our fire and strike. These brands have started to resume commercial activity and they are responding immediately. So we feel good about how our supply is recovering, how we are getting back on shelf and how we are recovering share. We are also poised to begin recovering profit margin. This business is clearly on the rebound. Moving now to plant-based foods on slide number 34. Our Morningstar Farms is uncharacteristically down in net sales and consumption through the first half. Much of this has to do with supply chain challenges, principally with a co-manufacturer, which led us to reducing our commercial activities. This is a short-term issue and we're working through it. And we have strong plans for the second half as we resume commercial activity. Nevertheless, this is a leader in plant-based foods, a category with tremendous growth prospects.
This is a business that remains in good condition from the standpoint of brand equity, marketing and innovation pipeline as well as profitability. So to close out our prepared remarks, let me briefly summarize with slide number 36. Through the second quarter and the first half, we're very pleased at how the business is performing, particularly given the challenging business environment. We have sustained momentum in the majority of our portfolio. In North America Cereal, our recovery is progressing well. We continue to mitigate the pressure on our profit margins. Our cash flow and balance sheet are strong, giving us strong financial flexibility. We have kicked off the process of separating into three companies, and we will not let this distract us from delivering results. And with all this going on, we are raising our outlook for the year. This gives you an idea of just how strong the first half we've had and the kind of confidence we have in our business and all our Kellogg employees that bring their skill and grit to work each and every day.
And with that, we'll open up the line for questions.
