To understand the trends in our business, we believe that it is helpful to analyze the impact of changes in the translation of foreign currencies into U.S. Dollars on revenues and expenses. We refer to this analysis as “currency impact” or “the impact from currency." This impact is calculated by translating current-period activity in local currency using the comparable prior-year period’s currency translation rate. This impact is calculated for all countries where the functional currency is the local-country currency. Revenues and expenses from our developing market countries (Latin America, Brazil, the Middle East, India, Eurasia and Central-Eastern Europe) are analyzed at actual exchange rates for all periods presented, since these countries generally have unpredictable currency and inflationary environments, and our operations in these countries have historically implemented pricing actions to recover the impact of inflation and devaluation. We do not hedge the translation effect of revenues or expenses denominated in currencies where the local currency is the functional currency.
Approximately 36% of our consolidated revenues are derived from operations outside of the United States where the U.S. Dollar is not the functional currency. When compared with the average of the major European currencies and Canadian Dollar on a revenue-weighted basis, the U.S. Dollar was 2% stronger in 2010 and 7% stronger in 2009, each compared to the prior year. As a result, the foreign currency translation impact on revenue was negligible in 2010 and a 3% detriment in 2009.
Refer to the “Gross Margin” section for additional information regarding the impact of currency on our product costs.