Beijing, China: Zhongpin plans to expand into north China with a new pork processing factory in Tangshan city, Hebei province, east of Beijing.
The $49m factory will have 6,000-tonne cold store a capacity and act as a cold chain logistics and distribution centre. It will have an annual capacity to produce 60,000-tonnes of chilled pork, 20,000-tonnes of frozen pork, and 22,000-tonnes prepared pork products.
Construction is scheduled to start in late 2011 with production of chilled and frozen pork expected to start in the third quarter 2012 and prepared pork products in the second quarter 2013. The payback period for this facility is around 5 years.
Xianfu Zhu, chairman and chief executive of Zhongpin, said: “This expansion is our second production cluster in north China, and marks a significant step in our industrial cluster strategy. This new facility will serve the Bohai Bay area, including Beijing, Tianjin, and the Hebei province, which are important strategic markets in our expansion roadmap.
“The Tangshan facility, together with our modern and highly-standardised Tianjin facility, will constitute our new industrial cluster circle to further support the rapid growth of our company, the expansion of our cold-chain logistics network, and the overall consolidation and modernization of the Chinese pork industry.
“This new facility has an excellent location, with a sufficient supply of hogs, a developed hog breeding industry on which we can expand, and access to markets with large populations that have strong purchasing power to consume pork products in both north China and northeast China. The Tangshan area also has a sound industrial base, which is also helpful to our business.”
• Zhongpin specializes in pork, pork products, vegetables, and fruits in China. Its Chinese distribution network covers 20 provinces plus Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hong Kong, and includes 3,378 retail outlets. Zhongpin also exports to Europe and other countries in Asia.
