Chile-headquartered berry company Hortifrut has posted a massive 49% rise in first quarter EBITDA to US$16.8m, driven by increased sales prices and lower operating expenses and other costs.

It also noted that it was able to redistribute fruit that would have been sent to China to other markets due to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak in January and February.

Operational costs in the quarter were 20.5% lower year-on-year at US$151.5m.

The lower costs helped to compensate for a fall in the volume of Peruvian berries marketed in the period, which came due to the company’s early pruning strategy it implemented to limit overlap with Chile.

Income from ordinary activities for the first nine months of the 2019-20 season remained in line with the same period of the previous season, totaling US$477.55m.

Sales volumes fell by 16.9% compared with the same period of 2019, but this was partially offset by an increase in the average price per kilo of 9%.

Hortifrut also noted that in the 2019-20 season it achieved several milestones, including the acquisition of a non-controlling stake in Portugal's BFruit, and the merging of its frozen business with that of Alifrut.