Chiquita has reported meaningful year-over-year banana price increases in July and August, and believes it will feel “minimal” impact from Hurricane Felix’s damage to banana plantations in Central America.

The company’s interim price and volume data for the third quarter, released yesterday, shows a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in banana prices on its core European markets, along with a five per cent increase in North America.

The firm’s Fresh Express added-value salad retail business also generated a one per cent year-on-year increase in volume, and growth of three per cent in net revenue.

“As a result of these trends, we anticipate a slight improvement in the company’s net sales in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2006, but margins will be squeezed as cost pressures continue,” said Fernando Aguirre, Chiquita chairman and ceo. “Despite the near-term issues, we believe we are on the right track and expect to report a greater level of year-on-year improvement in the fourth quarter, which would continue the positive year-on-year trend. We remain confident in our strategy to generate sustainable, profitable growth by delivering innovative, higher-margin products and building a high-performance organisation.”

The third quarter is set to reflect both higher year-over-year cost of sales, due to higher industry and other operating costs, and increased selling, general and administrative expenses, including higher new product introduction and brand support investments and higher food safety, marketing and merchandising expenses to drive recovery in the value-added salads category.

As a result, Chiquita is anticipating total operating expenses to stand $30 million (£14.8m) higher than in the third quarter of 2006, and it continues to expect a modest year-over-year improvement in its third quarter operating results.

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