and changes in product mix can impact unit case volume and gallon sales and can create differences between unit case volume and gallon sales growth rates. 

Unit Case Volume 

Although most of our Company's revenues are not based directly on unit case volume, we believe unit case volume is one of the measures of the underlying strength of the Coca-Cola system because it measures trends at the consumer level. The Coca-Cola system sold approximately 20.6 billion unit cases of our products in 2005, approximately 19.8 billion unit cases in 2004, and approximately 19.4 billion unit cases in 2003. 

In the North America operating segment, unit case volume in the Retail Division increased 2 percent in 2005 versus 2004, reflecting improved performance in the bottle- delivered business primarily related to Dasani, Coca-Cola Zero and noncarbonated beverages, along with growth in the warehouse juice and warehouse water operations. The Foodservice and Hospitality Division had a 1 percent increase in 2005 compared to 2004, reflecting improved trends in restaurant traffic and the impact of new customer conversion partially offset by the impact of higher fuel costs and Hurricane Katrina on consumer restaurant spending. 

In the Africa operating segment, unit case volume increased 6 percent in 2005 compared to 2004. This increase was driven by growth in core carbonated soft drinks as well as noncarbonated beverages across all divisions in this operating segment. 

In the East, South Asia and Pacific Rim operating segment, unit case volume decreased 4 percent in 2005 compared to 2004, primarily due to declines in India and the Philippines. The decline in India was related to the impact of price increases to cover rising raw material and distribution costs and the lingering effects of the 2003 pesticide allegations. The decline in the Philippines was primarily related to affordability and availability issues. Both markets are expected to remain challenging in 2006. 

Unit case volume in the European Union operating segment was even in 2005 versus 2004, primarily due to strong growth in Spain and Central Europe partially offset by declines primarily in Germany and Northwest Europe. Unit case volume in Germany declined 2 percent in 2005 due to the continued impact of the mandatory deposit legislation on the availability of nonrefillable packages and the corresponding limited availability of our products in the discount retail channel, along with overall industry weakness. In the second half of 2005, the Company achieved a limited range of availability of its products in most discounters. Results in Germany stabilized in the second half of 2005, and we expect this to continue into 2006. Unit case volume in Northwest Europe declined 3 percent in 2005, primarily due to the soft economic environment and declines in the carbonated soft drink category, which is associated with a decrease in prices at retailers, and the discount channel becoming a larger part of the retail market, together with a shift in consumer preferences away from regular carbonated soft drinks driven by health and wellness trends and the associated public opinion, media and government attention.