August 13, 2013

KFC parent company Yum! Brands Inc. said on August 12 that its sales figure in China fell by 13% in July.

It is a blow to Yum! Brands' efforts to recover from the bird-flu scare and a controversy over its chicken supply earlier this year.

Yum! Brands suggested earlier that it was on track to win back customer confidence in its products. Though its sales fell by 10% in June, it was better than the 19% drop in May and the 29% decline in April.

In late 2012, the company's sales began to plunge when KFC China was implicated in a food-safety scandal, which was reported by Chinese TV news that some of the KFC's suppliers were feeding chicken unapproved level of antibiotics.

China is a critical market for Yum! Brands. In 2012, more than half of its sales came from China.