Parmalat, the Italian food group engulfed in a fraud scandal, says it is confident of securing new credit lines from banks early in the New Year but may have to file for Chapter 11 in the US after gaining bankruptcy protection in Italy last week.

A source close to the new management at Parmalat said: "Parmalat has enough working capital to take it into January, and the company will have negotiated new lines of credit by early 2004."