(Yicai Global) Aug. 2 -- Chuying Agro-Pastoral Group has begun delisting procedures because the  Chinese meat processor's share price closed below CNY1 (14 US cents) for  20 consecutive trading days yesterday, prompted by a high level of  debt.

Chuying Agro-Pastoral's  stock price closed at CNY0.69 yesterday, so the share got suspended, the  Zhengzhou-based firm announced on the same day. The equity price once  rose to the highs of CNY64.6 during the first day of trading in 2010.

The company will lose from  CNY1.5 billion to CNY1.6 billion (USD216.2 million) in the first half  of this year because of a plummeting pig inventory and rising costs of  pig breeding, it said in its first-half business forecast.

The pork and poultry firm made a net loss of CNY3.9 billion (USD560.1 million) last year, blaming on  a higher-than-expected death rate among its swine, stemming from delays  in feed supply. At the end of the first quarter, the firm's  debt-to-assets ratio was 92.7 percent.

The agricultural sector is  highly periodic and Chuying Agro-Pastoral cannot support expansion at  the moment so its bonds have defaulted, causing its stock price to fall  below the face value, industry insiders told Yicai Global. 

Last November, Chuying  Agro-Pastoral used an unconventional way to erase CNY271 million (USD39  million) in debt by paying its bondholders in ham products and meat gift  sets.

Editor: Emmi Laine