Packaging
Zhongpin Opens New Processing Facility in Eastern Henan Province, Increasing Capacity by 19%
Tuesday 06. January 2009 - Zhongpin Inc. (NASDAQ:HOGS) ("Zhongpin"), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), today announced that the Company commenced production at its new chilled and frozen pork facility in Yongcheng City, eastern Henan Province on January 3, 2009.
With the addition of the Yongcheng facility, the Company has increased its annual production capacity for chilled and frozen pork to 498,760 metric tons.
Zhongpin began construction of the Yongcheng facility in the second half of 2007 with an investment of approximately $17.0 million. The new facility is located in Shangqiu, the main farm belt in eastern Henan Province and has a total annual production capacity of 80,000 metric tons. Approximately 75% of the facility’s production capacity is dedicated to the production of chilled pork and 25% to the production of frozen pork. Zhongpin expects the new facility to achieve an over 60% utilization rate by the second quarter of 2009.
“We believe the opening of the Yongcheng facility is an important step for Zhongpin in expanding our production capacity and optimizing our product mix, which will enable us to significantly and rapidly increase our market share in eastern Henan Province and in the central and eastern parts of China. There is a strong demand for high-quality pork products in these regions due to their large and growing population bases. In addition, Henan Province has the second largest supply of hogs in China next to Sichuan Province, ensuring an ample source of hogs for our expansion,” commented Mr. Xianfu Zhu, CEO of Zhongpin Inc. “The Zhongpin brand has developed increasing popularity and demand due to its high quality, superior taste and nutritional product offerings. We are confident in our ability to quickly ramp up the facility’s utilization level and take full advantage of our sophisticated distribution network to expand our market share.”