27th Nov 2013 14:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd Wednesday warned that profit and revenue in the current financial year will be reduced in its agricultural produce unit as production volumes decreased and the average selling price of the winter orange crop declined.
The company said that the average selling price of the winter orange crop had declined 3% in its Hepu Plantation and 17% in its Xinfeng Plantation compared with the previous year, as the overall market supply of winter navel oranges in the Gannan area, where the Xinfeng is located, had increased "significantly" from the previous year.
Additionally, local media reports about dyed navel oranges being sold in the Gannan area hampered overall customer confidence, hurting prices. Asian Citrus said that the incident was not related to its business.
The company expects to supply a total of 26,300 tonnes of winter oranges from Hepu in the second half of 2013, a decrease of 20% from 32,838 tonnes in the previous year. This reduction was expected, as the last batch of 48,058 winter orange trees at Hepu were replaced by around 220,000 banana trees as part of its replanting programme.
At Xinfeng, Asian Citrus expects its supply of winter oranges to be 123,400 in the second half, down 4% from 128,395 tonnes in the previous year due to persistent heavy rainfall and inclement weather.
Shares in Asian Citrus were trading down 4.1% at 19.91 pence Wednesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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