Henan based meat processor Zhongpin has entered into an agreement with Chenguang Meat Products Factory to lease a pork production facility in Shenzhou city starting from early December 2008.
The newly-leased facility is located in the city of Shenzhou, Hebei Province, and has an annual chilled and frozen pork production capacity of approximately 26,000 metric tons. Zhongpin plans to use about 70% of the capacity for the production of chilled pork products and the remaining 30% for frozen pork products. Hebei Province has a well developed transportation system, which will facilitate Zhongpin's expansion plans to penetrate markets in northern China. In addition, Hebei is one of China's major hog farming regions and was ranked the fifth largest in terms of hog livestock in 2007. The leased facility has the largest hog slaughtering capacity in Shenzhou and is equipped with world-class equipment utilizing advanced processing technology. The addition of this facility increases Zhongpin's chilled and frozen pork production capacity by 7%, bringing total production capacity to 417,560 metric tons annually.
"We are happy to report the increased expansion of our production capacity with the addition of the leased facility in Shenzhou. We believe this is a significant step in our efforts to capture market share in Northern China," commented Xianfu Zhu, CEO of Zhongpin. "We have been targeting the high-end pork product markets in Tianjin, Beijing, Hebei Province and other areas in Northern China which have experienced rapid growth in their consumer bases in recent years. With the help of a dedicated production base in the region, we expect to effectively tap these markets, acquire new market share, and further promote Zhongpin's brand image."