Maple Leaf Foods reported a loss in its first quarter compared with a profit a year ago as it faced a difficult pork market, cost inflation and higher startup expenses.

The company says it lost 57.7 million dollars, or 48 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31st, compared with a profit of 13.7 million dollars or 11 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Sales in the quarter totalled 1.17 billion dollars, up from 1.13 billion in the first three months of 2022.

The company says the increase came as sales in its meat protein group rose to 1.14 billion dollars compared with 1.09 billion in the same quarter last year.

Plant protein sales fell to 37.4 million dollars compared with 44.9 million a year earlier.

(Canadian Press)