FRANCE – Dairy group Bongrain announced on Tuesday that its sales for the first quarter of 2002 were down nearly 5% on the same period last year.

In a statement, the company said that the drop was due to the disposal of non-core assets in 2001. Bongrain claims that sales from its core assets were up 5% on the same period last year with strong growth in the cheese products, cream and butter sectors.

The company said sales appeared weak in Germany due to exceptionally high sales in the first quarter of 2001. It added that sales in Spain, the USA and Central and Eastern Europe were encouraging.

Bongrain said that low milk powder and butter fat commodity prices had impacted on results, but that industrial butter and protein prices were “encouraging”.