Critical Reasoning

Many beveragemakers use cork stoppers; but cork stoppers can leak, crumble, or become moldy, so that those beveragemakers must often discard a significant proportion of their inventory of bottled beverages. ColaMaster plastic stoppers, which cannot leak, crumble, or mold, have long been available to beveragemakers, at a price slightly higher than that
of traditional cork stoppers. Cork prices, however, are expected to rise dramatically in the near future. Clearly, therefore, beveragemakers who still use cork but wish to keep production costs from rising will be forced to reconsider plastic stoppers. And since the beverages-buying public's association of plastic stoppers with poor-quality beverages is weakening, there is an excellent chance that the ColaMaster plastic stopper will gain an increased share of the marked for beverages-bottle stoppers.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A. The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.
B. The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes; the second is a conclusion drawn in order to support the main conclusion of the argument.
C. The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second provides evidence in support of that main conclusion.
D. The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a restatement of that main conclusion.
E. The first is a conclusion drawn in order to support the main conclusion of the argument; the second is that main conclusion.