CHANGGE and BEIJING, China, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Zhongpin Inc. ("Zhongpin", Nasdaq: HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China, today announced that it has upgraded its slaughtering and processing facility in Changge, Henan province, that produces chilled and frozen pork products.
Process engineering and information technology improvements have increased the plant's annual production capacity by 37 percent, from 59,760 metric tons to 81,760 metric tons, at a cost of approximately US$ 6 million. This higher capacity will help support Zhongpin's expansion into new markets for its chilled and frozen pork products.
With the upgrade of the Changge plant, the company has ended the lease of a plant in Hengshui, Hebei province.
Going forward, this newly modernized plant in Changge and the new plant in Tianjin that is currently under construction will assist Zhongpin to better serve its important north China market including the affluent cities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Tangshan.
The new Tianjin plant, which is expected to begin pork production by mid-February 2010, also will have state-of-the-art processes to produce chilled and frozen pork products of the highest quality and safety.
Mr. Xianfu Zhu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zhongpin, said, "We are very pleased with our new upgraded slaughtering and processing facilities, which were completed on schedule. As a significant phase in our capacity expansion plan, this partial rationalization of our production network is another important milestone in our development and helps us increase production and distribution efficiency. The newly modernized Changge plant and the coming new Tianjin plant will benefit from the same modern process engineering and information technology advances we have been applying to all our facilities. We have only one production standard - to make the highest quality pork products in the world.
"Zhongpin's market in north China includes consumers, distributors, restaurants, and organizations that require outstanding quality, safety, taste, and nutritional value from its products, plus on-time delivery -- just as all of our customers do. Zhongpin is well known for providing the highest product quality and safety at competitive prices.
"We will serve the market surrounding the Bohai Bay from our Changge and Tianjin plants as well as other neighboring plants by using our advanced cold-chain distribution system. We are confident in our market expansion in the near future"
About Zhongpin
Zhongpin Inc. is a meat and food processing company that specializes in pork and pork products, vegetables, and fruits in China. Its distribution network in the China covers 20 provinces plus Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing and includes more than 3,000 retail outlets. Zhongpin's export markets include the European Union and Southeast Asia. For more information about Zhongpin, please visit Zhongpin's website at http://www.zpfood.com .
Safe harbor statement
Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Zhongpin has based its forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and trends that it believes may affect its business strategy, results of operations, financial condition, and financing needs. These projections involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, which may include but are not limited to such factors as downturns in the Chinese economy, unanticipated changes in product demand, any effect from the A(H1N1) virus on Zhongpin's market or sales, interruptions in the supply of live pigs and or raw pork, poor performance of the retail distribution network, delivery delays, freezer facility malfunctions, Zhongpin's ability to build and commence new production facilities according to intended timelines, the ability to prepare Zhongpin for growth, the ability to predict Zhongpin's future financial performance and financing ability, changes in regulations, and other information detailed in Zhongpin's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating Zhongpin's forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All information provided in this news release is as of the date of this release. Zhongpin does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
For more information, please contact:
Zhongpin Inc.
Mr. Sterling Song (English and Chinese)
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +86-10-8286-1788 x101 in Beijing
Email: ir@zhongpin.com
Mr. Warren (Feng) Wang (English and Chinese)
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +86-10-8286-1788 x104 in Beijing
Email: warren.wang@zhongpin.com
Christensen
Mr. Yuanyuan Chen (English and Chinese)
Tel: +86-10-5971-2001 in Beijing
Mobile: +86-139-2337-7882 in Beijing
Email: ychen@christensenir.com
Mr. Tom Myers (English)
Mobile: +86-139-1141-3520 in Beijing
Email: tmyers@christensenir.com
Ms. Kathy Li (English and Chinese)
Tel: +1-212-618-1978 in New York and Scottsdale
Email: kli@christensenir.com
