(Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Co. issued a more optimistic 2024 forecast after first-quarter results outpaced Wall Street’s expectations as customers in markets around the world continue to pay higher prices and drive volume growth.

The increase in prices that consumers paid for Coca-Cola’s products was largely attributable to high inflationary markets in Latin America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In those regions, the average price that consumers paid across a mix of products rose by 22%, compared to an increase of 7% in North America. 

At the same time, total unit case volume grew in developing and emerging markets such as Brazil, the Philippines and Nigeria. In North America, unit case volume was flat, and the company saw a decline in its water, sports, coffee and tea businesses.

“Having an all-weather strategy to deal with whatever gets thrown at us is working,” Chief Financial Officer John Murphy said in an interview. The impact of what he called “hyper-inflationary markets” is offset by volume growth in many of those same regions. “The underlying momentum for the quarter was strong and it’s reflective in our guidance for the year,” Murphy said.

Averaged across regions, the company hiked prices across a mix of its products 13% in the quarter — more than the increase expected by the market.

Coca-Cola’s organic revenue, which excludes the impact of currency shifts and acquisitions, rose 11% in the most recent quarter, above the average estimate of analysts. The maker of Minute Maid juices and Topo Chico mineral water now sees that same measure growing as much as 9% for the full year — up from the previous range of 6% to 7% and higher than the average estimate.

The beverage giant said currency headwinds were a drag on earnings in the most recent quarter and are expected to continue to weigh for the remainder of the year. Adjusted earnings per share in the most recent period beat expectations, but the profit outlook for the year was unchanged.

Coca-Cola shares rose 0.5% at 9:34 a.m. in New York. 

Rival PepsiCo Inc. last week posted stronger-than-expected sales growth with the international business up 9%. The increase was driven by sales upticks in emerging markets in Latin America and Asia.

(Updates share trading and adds details in the second paragraph and executive comment in the third paragraph.)

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