Our net sales grew 6% in the quarter, organic sales growth of 5% was driven by 0.5% organic volume growth and a 4.5% increase in pricing.
Foreign exchange was a 1% tailwind in the quarter.
While the tough comparisons, particularly impacted our trends in developed markets, which were flat on an organic sales basis in the quarter, we delivered double-digit organic sales growth in emerging markets with volume up 5.5% and pricing up 6%.
In the first quarter, our gross profit margin was 60.7% on both a GAAP basis where we were up 50 basis points year-over-year, and a base business basis where we were up 40 basis points.
For the first quarter, pricing was 170 basis points favorable to gross margin, while raw materials were 310 basis point headwind.
Productivity was a 180 basis point benefit.
Our SG&A was up 90 basis points as a percent of sales for the first quarter on both a GAAP and base business basis.
This was primarily driven by a 50 basis point increase in advertising to sales as we drove strong activation on brand building, innovation and e-commerce.
For the first quarter, on a GAAP basis, our operating profit was up 5.5% year-over-year, while it was up 5% on a base business basis.
Our earnings per share was down 4% on a GAAP basis and up 7% on a base business basis.
Latin America net sales were up 2% as 9.5% organic sales growth was mostly offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange.
Europe net sales grew 6% in the quarter.
Organic sales were down 2%.
Volume declined 3.5% in the quarter as we lap strong shipments in the year ago period, which was driven by COVID-related demand and pantry loading.
Pricing was plus 1.5% as we took pricing across all categories to help offset raw material inflation.
We delivered 16.5% net sales and 11% organic sales growth in Asia Pacific led by volume growth across our biggest markets; Greater China, India and the Philippines.
Africa/Eurasia net sales grew 8.5% as we delivered strong organic sales growth throughout the division.
Volume grew 5% in the quarter, while pricing was up 8%.
Foreign exchange was a 4.5% headwind.
Emerging markets grew organic sales greater than 20% in the quarter through a combination of volume and pricing growth.
We still expect organic sales growth to be within our 3% to 5% long-term target range.
All in, we still expect net sales to be up 4% to 7%.
Our gross margin guidance remains unchanged as we expect our gross profit margin to be up year-over-year in 2021 on both the GAAP and base business basis.
Our tax rate is expected to be between 23.5% and 24.5%.
Obviously, we're really pleased with our performance in the first quarter.
We just discussed, we're battling the cost inflation across the board.

Summary:
Our net sales grew 6% in the quarter, organic sales growth of 5% was driven by 0.5% organic volume growth and a 4.5% increase in pricing.
Our earnings per share was down 4% on a GAAP basis and up 7% on a base business basis.
We still expect organic sales growth to be within our 3% to 5% long-term target range.
All in, we still expect net sales to be up 4% to 7%.
Our gross margin guidance remains unchanged as we expect our gross profit margin to be up year-over-year in 2021 on both the GAAP and base business basis.
Obviously, we're really pleased with our performance in the first quarter.
We just discussed, we're battling the cost inflation across the board.