Pilgrim’s Pride has blamed export market challenges and commodity issues for a fall in full-year sales and profits.

For the year ending 27 December, net income at the US poultry group was down to US$645.9m from $711.4m. Operating profit fell to $1bn from $1.2bn on the back of higher SG&A and administrative restructure charges.

Pilgrim’s Pride, majority owned by Brazil’s JBS, said sales were lower at $8.2bn. falling from $8.6bn.

“Our case ready and small bird operations continued to deliver strong results in spite of challenges in the export markets, while the weakest chicken cutout in the past five years continued to impact the commodity segments of our business, as well as our Mexico operations. Despite the headwinds, our team managed to deliver margins that are above periods when prices were at similar levels. Our performance is commendable and strongly validates the benefits of our strategy,” asserted Bill Lovette, CEO of Pilgrim’s.

For the fourth quarter, net income fell to $63m from $167m and operating income was lower at $107.7m from $328.9m. Sales declined to $1.9bn from $2.1bn.

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