New Plant Will Have an Annual Capacity of 125,000 Metric Tons for Pork Products
CHANGGE and BEIJING, China, July 26 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Zhongpin Inc. ("Zhongpin", Nasdaq: HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China, today announced it will construct a new slaughtering and processing plant, low temperature prepared pork plant, logistics center, and research & development center in Nong'an county in the Jilin province of China. Zhongpin expects to invest about US$ 61.5 million in the new facility.
The new plant will be located in China's largest grain-producing county, which is also China's largest animal husbandry region and one of its premium meat producing counties. About 4 million hogs are slaughtered for food in Nong'an county each year. This site is adjacent to the main markets that include the cities of Harbin and Changchun, making the location ideal for both the source of hogs and for large markets that consume pork products.
Mr. Xianfu Zhu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zhongpin, said, "This facility will be part of our plan to expand to national market coverage for our safe and high-quality food products. The facility will include all of Zhongpin's modern integrated process engineering and IT systems, plus our state-of-the-art cold-chain logistics and distribution center, a research and development center, and an employee living area. As with all our other expansions, we expect that the northeast market and our new operations will support the creation of additional value for our shareholders."
The new plant's annual production capacity will be a total of 125,000 metric tons, with 70,000 for chilled pork, 25,000 for frozen pork, and 30,000 for prepared pork products. Zhongpin expects to process about 1.2 million hogs in its new plant each year.
The first phase of construction, which includes the production lines and cold-chain logistics and distribution systems for chilled pork and frozen pork, R&D center, and employee living area, is scheduled to start construction in the third quarter of 2010, with trial pork production starting in the fourth quarter 2011. The second phase of construction, which will include production facilities for prepared pork products, will begin in the second quarter of 2011 and should be completed in the third quarter of 2012.
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
Email: kli@christensenir.com
