US fresh produce giant Fresh Del Monte has reported on a difficult first quarter (Q1) of 2009, with net sales down from US$894m (€678m) to US$879.7m (€669m) and year-on-year net income falling to US$34.9m (€26.5m) from US$63.6m (€48.4m) in 2008.
Net sales in the banana category jumped 6 per cent to US$361.5m (€264.9m) through the period ended 27 March, a result of increased selling prices, while gold pineapple sales rose 5 per cent to hit US$106.3m (€80.8m).
Group chairman and chief executive officer Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh said that he was pleased with certain aspects of the quarter, particularly in bananas and convenience.
'We were pleased to see the progress we made toward our long-term initiatives including strong growth and profitability in our global banana business, an increase in volume of our core products and excellent strategic improvements in our fresh-cut category during the quarter,' he said.
However, Mr Abu-Ghazaleh admitted that a number of detrimental factors had contributed to a weaker financial performance during what had been a challenging start to the year.
'These challenges included severe weather conditions in our banana and gold pineapple production areas in Costa Rica and in our banana production areas in Guatemala,' he noted. 'These challenges led to disruptions in our operations, a significant decrease in fruit quality, along with higher fruit production and procurement costs.
'We also experienced a dramatic reduction in our melon category performance, the result of significantly lower melon selling prices, primarily due to an oversupply in the market and the difficult economic environment,' Mr Abu-Ghazaleh added. 'In addition, our first quarter results were negatively affected by the strengthening of the US dollar against other currencies.'
Looking forward, he said that the continued global demand for value and healthy produce would drive demand, and that the tough first quarter was a temporary blip with long-term prospects 'bright'.
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