CHANGGE CITY, China, April 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Zhongpin Inc. (Nasdaq: HOGS) ("Zhongpin"), a leading meat and food processing company in the People’s Republic of China ("PRC"), today announced that it will begin production of fruits and vegetables at its new facility in Henan Province on April 25, 2009.
The new processing facility is located in Changge City, Henan Province with a total production capacity of 30,000 metric tons. With the opening of the new facility, Zhongpin’s existing production capacity of 12,600 metric tons for fruits and vegetables in Changge City will be relocated to this newly built processing facility and the old fruits and vegetables facility will be closed down. Due to the production seasonality and characteristics of fruits and vegetables, there is a high demand for freshness of produce in the market. The Company regularly requests quality processors of fruits and vegetables at the local producing areas to process a certain amount of fruits and vegetables. Upon successful commencement of production at the new facility, the total production capacity of fruits and vegetables will increase by 138% from 12,600 metric tons to 30,000 metric tons.
"We are pleased to report that we will commence operations at our new fruit and vegetable facility. While our pork and pork products business segment remains our primary growth driver, our R&D centre continues to research and develop prepared food products combining meat and vegetables as part of our efforts to optimally restructure our product mix," said by Mr. Xianfu Zhu, CEO of Zhongpin. "We are very confident in our ability to ramp up capacity utilization at the plant to quickly reach our target levels. A central location for our total fruit and vegetable production capacity offers us additional advantages including economies of scale, efficient distribution logistics, and lower fixed costs."
About Zhongpin
Zhongpin is a meat and food processing company that specializes in pork and pork products, and fruits and vegetables in the PRC. Its distribution network in the PRC spans 20 provinces and 4 cities with special political status, and includes over 3,061 retail outlets. Zhongpin’s export markets include the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa. For more information, contact CCG Investor Relations directly or go to Zhongpin’s website at http://www.zpfood.com .
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release and oral statements made by Zhongpin on its conference call in relation to this release constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our ability to quickly bring the new production facility to target levels of production, expectations of future consumer demand, ability to prepare the Company for growth, predictions and guidance relating to the Company’s future financial performance. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs, but these projections also 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, unanticipated changes in product demand, interruptions in the supply of live pigs/raw pork, downturns in the Chinese economy, delivery delays, freezer facility malfunctions, poor performance of the retail distribution network, changes in applicable regulations, and other information detailed from time to time in the Company’s filings and future filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.
For more information, please contact:
Crocker Coulson, President
CCG Investor Relations
Tel: +1-646-213-1915
Email: crocker.coulson@ccgir.com
Web: http://www.ccgirasia.com
Feng Wang, Chief Financial Officer
Zhongpin Inc.
Tel: +86-10-8286-1788
Email: ir@zhongpin.com
Web: http://www.zpfood.com
