Zhongpin Leases New Pork Facility in Jilin Province
31 12월 2008 - 6:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
CHANGGE CITY, China, Dec. 30 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Zhongpin Inc.
(NASDAQ: HOGS) ("Zhongpin"), a leading meat and food processing
company in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), today announced
that on December 30, 2008, it entered into an agreement with Jilin
Huazheng Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Development Co., Ltd. to
lease a pork production facility in the city of Gongzhuling, Jilin
Province. Zhongpin plans to move part of its chilled and frozen
pork production capacity to Jilin Province. The newly-leased
facility has an annual chilled and frozen pork production capacity
of approximately 30,000 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. Jilin Province is one
of China's major corn producing regions and has an abundant supply
of hogs, which should help facilitate Zhongpin's penetration into
some major cities in Northeastern China, such as Changchun, Jilin
and Shenyang. The leased facility has state-of-the- art equipment
in place that utilizes advanced processing technology, and the
additional production capacity is expected to generate sales
revenue immediately. Zhongpin's management has decided to terminate
in mid-January its lease for Zhongpin's existing chilled and frozen
pork facility in Hailun City, Heilongjiang Province, which has an
annual capacity of 28,800 metric tons for chilled and frozen pork
products. This facility was initially leased to facilitate the
Company's export business due to its convenient access to an export
port to Russia. However, Zhongpin has now shifted its focus to the
higher-margin domestic market as the strategic value of this
facility has declined. As a result of the new lease and the
termination of the existing lease, the total annual capacity of
chilled and frozen pork products will be 418,760 metric tons after
the transition is completed. Following termination of the lease
agreement, Zhongpin's subsidiary, Heilongjiang Zhongpin, will be
transitioned into a trading entity, focusing on market development
and cold chain logistics in Northern China. The capacity relocation
is not expected to negatively impact Zhongpin's sales performance
during the first quarter of 2009, particularly during the upcoming
Chinese Spring Festival in January 2009. "We believe that the
decision to strategically relocate a portion of our chilled and
frozen pork capacity will benefit our future growth. We have
observed that China's domestic demand for high-quality pork
products has been relatively unaffected by the global economic
crisis, as compared with overseas markets, which validates our
deliberate focus on the domestic market and bodes well for our
continued success," commented Mr. Xianfu Zhu, CEO of Zhongpin Inc.
"We are confident that the relocation to Jilin Province will
facilitate our access to the major developed cities in Northern
China and the initiation of the new facility demonstrates our
progress in consolidating the market in Northern China, which will
increase our market coverage in this region. With the help of
dedicated production bases in Tianjin City, Heibei Province and
Jilin Province, we expect to expand our market share in the
Northern region and strengthen Zhongpin's brand image." About
Zhongpin Zhongpin is a meat and food processing company that
specializes in pork and pork products, and fruits and vegetables,
in the PRC. Its distribution network in the PRC spans 24 provinces
and includes over 2,995 retail outlets. Zhongpin's export markets
include the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, Hong Kong,
Japan and South Korea. For more information, contact CCG Investor
Relations directly or go to Zhongpin's website at
http://www.zpfood.com/ . Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in
this press release constitute forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, without
limitation, statements regarding our ability to prepare the Company
for growth, the Company's planned manufacturing capacity expansion
in 2008 and predictions and guidance relating to the Company's
future financial performance. We have based these forward-looking
statements largely on our current expectations and projections
about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect
our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy
and financial needs, but these projections also 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, unanticipated changes in
product demand, interruptions in the supply of live pigs/raw pork,
downturns in the Chinese economy, delivery delays, freezer facility
malfunctions, poor performance of the retail distribution network,
changes in applicable regulations, and other information detailed
from time to time in the Company's filings and future filings with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. You are urged
to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the
forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are
qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The
forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of
this press release and the Company undertakes no duty to update any
forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual
results or changes in the company's expectations. For more
information, please contact: Crocker Coulson, President CCG
Investor Relations Tel: +1-646-213-1915 Email: Web site:
http://www.ccgirasia.com/ Warren Wang, Chief Financial Officer
Zhongpin Inc. Tel: +86-10-8286-1788 Email: Web site:
http://www.zpfood.com/ DATASOURCE: Zhongpin Inc. CONTACT: Zhongpin
Inc., Warren Wang, Chief Financial Officer, +86-10- 8286-1788, or
CCG Investor Relations, Crocker Coulson, President,
+1-646-213-1915, for Zhongpin Inc. Web site: http://www.zpfood.com/
http://www.ccgirasia.com/
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