Ailing US poultry group Pilgrim’s Pride has seen its first-quarter losses widen on the back of falling sales.
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The company, which has filed for Chapter 11 protection, said yesterday (5 February) that its net loss for the three months to 27 December stood at US$228.8m – against $32.3m a year earlier.
Net sales were down from $2.05bn a year ago to $1.88bn, Pilgrim’s said.
The largest poultry producer in the US said it continued to face an “extremely challenging” trading environment during the quarter.
The company said market prices for feed ingredients fell during the quarter but warned they remained “volatile”.
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By GlobalDataPilgrim’s also revealed that market prices for chicken had stabilised since the end of 2008 after US poultry groups cut production to reduce the over-supply of chicken in the country.
However, Pilgrim’s said chicken prices have not improved to the level where they would offset ingredient costs.
Pilgrim’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December after seeing the business hit by soaring feed costs and weak poultry prices in recent months.
The company’s high level of indebtedness, primarily the result of its takeover of Gold Kist in 2007, also proved problematic amid turmoil in the credit markets.
