January 6, 2009
Zhongpin opens pork processing facility in Eastern Henan
Zhongpin Inc. announced that it has commenced production at its new pork facility in Yongcheng City, eastern Henan Province on January 3, 2009.
With the addition of the Yongcheng facility, Zhongpin increased its annual production capacity for chilled and frozen pork to 498,760 tonnes.
Zhongpin began construction of the Yongcheng facility in the second half of 2007 with an investment of approximately RMB17.0 million (US$.
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 tonnes.
Approximately 75 percent of the facility's production capacity is dedicated to the production of chilled pork and 25 percent to the production of frozen pork.
Zhongpin expects the new facility to achieve an over 60 percent utilisation rate by the second quarter of 2009.
CEO of Zhongpin Inc. Xianfu Zhu believes the opening of the Yongcheng facility will not only expand production capacity but will significantly and rapidly increase market share in eastern Henan Province and in the central and eastern parts of China.
Zhu said the demand for high-quality pork products in these regions is strong due to large and growing population bases.
He added that Henan Province has the second largest supply of pigs in China next to Sichuan Province, ensuring an ample source of hogs for their expansion.
