September 23, 2009

Zhongpin Inc, a leading Chinese meat and food processing company, Tuesday (Sep 22) announced that its pork processing plants under construction in Tianjin and Changge have been promised subsidies by the Chinese government.

China's policies in 2009 have been encouraging meat processing companies to further modernise and improve their products and processes. Earlier this year, Zhongpin's application for subsidies was approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission for its three new pork processing facilities.

Zhongpin's two plants in Tianjin, which are currently under construction and are scheduled to begin initial production in the first and third quarters of 2010, together have been promised a subsidy of RMB20 million (US$2.9 million) to help support the development of the plants. Upon the completion of all construction, the two plants will have a total annual processing capacity of 136,000 tonnes for chilled, frozen and prepared pork products.

In addition, the Chinese government also promised a subsidy of RMB13.8 million for Zhongpin's new Changge plant, which is located in the Henan province. This plant, currently under construction and scheduled to begin production in the fourth quarter of this year, will have an annual processing capacity of 36,000 tonnes for prepared pork products.

Meanwhile, Zhongpin was also awarded a subsidy of RMB4 million to support the expansion and further improvement of its integrated production, cold-chain logistics and information system.

During the recently concluded Fifth International Meat Conference in Qingdao, Zhongpin received the award as the "Most Valuable Brand in China's Meat Industry 2009" while Guo Gengrui, director of Zhongpin's Technical Centre, won the award for "Science and Technology Innovation in China's Meat Industry 2009."

US$1=RMB6.827 (Sep 23)