Higher selling prices for bananas and pineapples helped profits rise by almost half at Fresh Del Monte (NYSE: FDP) in the second quarter, even though net sales were slightly down.

In a results announcement today, the company reported a 49% year-on-year rise in net income to US$96.2 million for the period.

CEO Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh said he was pleased with the performance.

"We continued to see strong growth in our fresh-cut and avocado product lines. We achieved higher selling prices in our pineapple and banana business segments, and we benefited from lower input costs and cost-reduction initiatives that directly improved our bottom-line performance," he said.

"We also continued to invest in our diversification strategy and advanced our global business platform during the quarter.

"Our investment in diversifying our products and geographies over the years resulted in solid second quarter results, despite weather issues which negatively affected sales volume in several of our product lines."

Net sales were down 4% at US$1.088 billion.

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www.freshfruitportal.com