USA – Dairy and farming co-operative Land O’Lakes has announced a $1 million (1.13 million euro) loss for the first quarter of 2002.

The loss comes despite sales of 1.73 billion euro, up 10.8% on the same period last year when the company posted a 14.79 million euro profit.

The co-op’s dairy division posted a 4.32 million euro pre-tax loss for the quarter, compared with a 8.76 million euro profit for the first quarter of 2001.

Land O’Lakes officials blamed the drop on poor demand for dairy products, poor weather and high milk prices.

The company said the increase in sales was due to the acquisition of Purina Mills agricultural feed company in October 2001. Excluding Purina, the company said sales dropped 4.8%.

The company remained upbeat after it saw a 12.17 million euro net profit in March. 5.8 million euro of this figure came from Land O’Lakes’ dairy business.