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July 28 (Reuters) - Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods MFI.TO reported a quarterly profit that squeezed past estimates as lower operating costs and increased pricing more than offset a fall in volumes in its meat products business.
The company, whose brands include Schneiders and namesake Maple Leaf, recently completed a program started in 2010 to boost earnings by shutting some plants and modernizing others.
Adjusted operating earnings for the meat products segment rose to C$62.9 million ($47.8 million) in the second quarter ended June 30, from C$17.7 million a year earlier.
The company, which is one of Canada's biggest pork processors, reported net earnings of C$31.4 million, or 23 Canadian cents per share, compared with a loss of C$7.5 million, or 5 Canadian cents, a year earlier. an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf earned 32 Canadian cents per share, 1 Canadian cent above analysts' average estimate.
Maple Leaf, whose agribusiness unit supplies livestock to the meat products group, said total sales rose 4.1 percent to C$854.6 million.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of C$847.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ($1 = 1.32 Canadian dollars)