Kerry Group sees U.S. destocking easing, positive on China

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ingredients giant Kerry expects destocking among its North American customers to continue to ease in the third quarter after a number recently effectively finished their inventory reductions, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Edmond Scanlon added that the Irish-based company has seen a good progression in volumes in China over the last two quarters and expected to see another step up in growth over the coming months after a challenging 2022 impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns.

"In China it's been a pretty dynamic environment over the last number of years. I think it'll be probably out into 2024 before we get back to, let's say, a more normalised China scenario. We would continue to be pretty optimistic about the medium term and long term," Scanlon told an analyst call.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Louise Heavens)