CHANGGE and BEIJING, China, September 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Zhongpin Inc. ("Zhongpin" or the "Company", Nasdaq: HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China, announced today that the trial production at its new prepared pork products plant in Tianjin will start on September 30, 2011.
Zhongpin's new prepared pork plant is phase 2 of its industrial park in Tianjin. Phase 1, for chilled and frozen pork, began operating in January 2010 with an annual production capacity of about 100,000 metric tons for chilled and frozen pork.
The new prepared pork products plant will have an annual production capacity of about 36,000 metric tons. The total investment in phase 2 was approximately $22 million.
The new prepared pork facility will produce sausages, hotdogs, and other Chinese-style and western-style low-temperature meat products. These products have been developed by thorough market research and analysis and R&D by the Company. The marketing, sales, and R&D team have completed outstanding work during the facility's construction to ensure that the products produced will satisfy a wide range of consumers' desires and needs. In parallel, they also worked to shorten the duration of the trial production period.
Mr. Xianfu Zhu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zhongpin Inc., said, "Our new prepared pork plant in our Tianjin cluster joins our plant for chilled and frozen pork that has been producing there since early 2010.
"We are very pleased with the good market acceptance and growth we have earned so far in greater Tianjin and the North China area. In addition to our chilled and frozen pork, we also sell our prepared pork products in Tianjin that we create in other locations, so we already have a good market presence and foundation there for prepared pork products. For that reason, we believe with confidence that our new facility will yield good market share increases for our prepared pork products in greater Tianjin. We are quite confident that the new facilities in Tianjin will satisfy the traditional strong market demand during the Chinese New Year in early 2012."
Safe harbor statement
Certain statements in this news release may be 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, interruptions in the supply of live pigs and or raw pork, the effects of weather on hog feed production, 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. These filings are available from www.sec.gov or from Zhongpin's website at www.zpfood.com.
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)
Director of Investor Relations
Telephone +86 10 8286 1788 extension 101 in Beijing
ir@zhongpin.com
Mr. Warren (Feng) Wang (English and Chinese)
Chief Financial Officer
Telephone +86 10 8286 1788 extension 104 in Beijing
warren.wang@zhongpin.com
Christensen
Mr. Christian Arnell (English and Chinese)
Telephone +86 10 5826 4939 in Beijing
carnell@christensenir.com
Mr. Tom Myers (English)
Mobile +86 139 1141 3520 in Beijing
tmyers@christensenir.com
