(LEAD) CJ Cheiljedang-Q3 earnings

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SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean food company CJ Cheiljedang Corp. said Tuesday its third-quarter net profit fell 48.3 percent from a year earlier, largely due to higher operating costs and lower gains from an affiliate.

In the three months that ended in September, net profit declined to 61.6 billion won (US$45.8 million) from 119.19 billion won in the same period last year, the company said in a press release.

"Higher raw material and logistics costs, along with lower gains from its stake in CJ Logistics, weighed on quarterly earnings," the company said.

CJ Cheiljedang holds a 40.16 percent stake in CJ Logistics, which reported third-quarter net profit of 54.7 billion won, down 25.5 percent from a year earlier.

Operating profit fell 10.8 percent to 309 billion won in the third quarter from 346.5 billion won a year ago. Sales declined 0.6 percent to 7.39 trillion won from 7.44 trillion won.

For the first nine months of the year, net profit plunged 53.5 percent to 177.61 billion won from 381.78 billion won a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter, the company said it plans to strengthen its food business operations and improve the performance and profitability of its nucleic acid and feed-grade amino acid businesses.

CJ Cheiljedang currently operates 34 overseas production facilities, including 20 in the United States, five in Japan, four in China, three in Vietnam, and one each in Germany and Australia. It also operates 17 production facilities in South Korea.

The company is currently building two additional production facilities, one in Hungary and the other in South Dakota.

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