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Abbott sees pediatric nutrition issues in China being near-term in nature

On the company's Q3 earnings call, Abbott Laboratories CEO Miles White attributed the 1% decline in nutrition sales to soft performance in China pediatric nutrition. "As you may recall, I expressed caution on the near-term outlook in China in our last earnings call. Over the last few months, market conditions have remained challenging there, including rapid channel shifts and new safety regulations that are driving an oversupply of product in the market, and aggressive levels of discounting. Although conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near term, the long-term fundamentals of the market remain attractive. We have the right portfolio of products for the various channels, and the best-in-class global supply network. We have also continued to focus on strengthening our competitiveness in order to deliver growth over the long term," White said, adding that the company continues to perform well in Southeast Asia and Latin America and saw above-market growth in U.S. pediatric nutrition.

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