SYDNEY, March 30 (Reuters) - Infant formula maker Bellamy's Australia Ltd BAL.AX said on Thursday it would miss a 2018 deadline to register some of its products for sale in China, heaping pressure on a company that has struggled with regulations in its main export market.
The affected products comprise 14 percent of Bellamy's total sales, Bellamy's said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
Shares in the stock, which had once ridden high on the boom in Chinese appetite for Australian dairy products, fell nearly eight percent in early trade.
The company said the issue had been caused by a change of ownership at its supplier's manufacturing plant, which has meant it must now register its own products with the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) rather than leveraging off its supplier, Bega Cheese Ltd BGA.AX . the company is confident it will achieve registration of its PRC products with the CFDA, it does not anticipate that it will have registration in place by 1 January 2018," Bellamy's said in a statement.
Bellamy's shares are down 63 percent since December, when the company said a supply glut in China had hit sales hard. since cut its revenue forecast and dumped its chief executive, with some of its performance woes linked to ill-fated attempts to sell direct to Chinese customers. stock traded at A$4.12 ($3.21) on Thursday morning, a far cry from a high over A$16 last year, while Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.16 percent. ($1 = 1.3046 Australian dollars)