Earnings at Maruha Nichiro Holdings and two other leading Japanese seafood companies appear to have worsened in the April-September period due to a drop in fish prices, according to Nikkei.
Maruha Nichiro is expected to post a roughly 40% year-on-year decrease in consolidated operating profit to about ¥6 billion, less than the ¥7.5 billion forecast earlier. Sales are estimated at nearly ¥400 billion, down slightly.
The company built up its inventory after the Great East Japan Earthquake to head off a supply shortage. But the price of salmon, which is among the most commonly eaten fish in Japan, dropped as a result, and the market for other fish also slowed.
Kyokuyo group operating profit is expected to decline to just sort of almost ¥400 million yen, compared with its earlier projection of a 44% increase to ¥1.1 billion. Profitability dropped not only for unprocessed seafood but also for processed products with high added value, such as ingredients for sushi toppings.
Nippon Suisan Kaisha willl probably also report declines in group earnings from the year-earlier ¥6.3 billion operating profit on sales of ¥271.7 billion. The firm's chemical business, which provides ingredients derived from fish oil to drug and health food makers, fared well. But that was not enough to absorb the impact of lower profitability in the marine product business.
