China Kangda swings into the red for FY17 as its chickens die at a faster rate

CHINA Kangda Food Company, which sells chicken and rabbit meat, swung into the red for its full year, as it saw higher mortality rate of its chickens.

Net loss for the 12 months ended Dec 31, 2017 stood at 12.8 million yuan (S$2.66 million), compared to a net profit of 7.55 million yuan.

The results reflected a stark change in the fair value of its biological assets.

It recorded a gain of just 1.61 million yuan due to changes in fair value in biological assets once estimated selling costs are deducted. This was a significant fall from the 37.8 million yuan in fair value gain it posted in 2016.

The net loss comes despite a 5.8 per cent increase in full-year revenue to 1.34 billion yuan.

China Kangda said the increase of the mortality rate of the chickens was due to bad weather. The company also registered higher administrative costs mainly from the higher professional fees and the staff costs of the senior management.

It said demand for chilled and frozen rabbit meat products "rebounded" in 2017. To meet market demand of rabbits from overseas, the group has invested in breeding "free rearing" rabbits. The production and breeding facilities are to comply with European animal protection rights' requirements.