MHP boosts chicken sales by 37% yoy in 9M08

Mironivskiy Hliboproduct (MHPC LI), in a trading update released yesterday, said that it increased sales of chicken meat by 37% in 9M08 to 162 ths mt. The company credited the rise to the launch of the Myronivka chicken farm in mid-2007, with the complex reaching full capacity in Oct. 2007. MHP said its average price for chicken meat had risen 53% YTD over the first nine months of 2008 to USD 2.29/kg. The company said that as of Sept. 30, 2008, its total debt amounted to USD 500 mln, mostly denominated in USD. During the next nine months, MHP said it would only have to refinance approximately USD 20 mln, and that it had cash reserves of USD 109 mln, about USD 83 mln of which was in US dollars.