Seoul: South Korean food company CJ Cheiljedang Corp. on Tuesday reported its first-quarter net income of 57.4 billion won (US$40.5 million), marking a decline of 62.9 percent from the same period last year. This substantial decrease in net income reflects the challenges faced by the company during the first quarter of the year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, CJ Cheiljedang's regulatory filing revealed that the company's operating income for the January-March period fell by 11.4 percent year-on-year to 333.2 billion won, while revenue saw a slight decrease of 0.1 percent, totaling 7.2 trillion won. The figures indicate a challenging financial environment for the company during this period.

The operating profit reported by CJ Cheiljedang was 8.6 percent lower than the average estimate, as per a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. However, the survey did not provide an estimate for the net profit, leaving analysts without a benchmark for comparison in this aspect of the company's financial performance.