CHANGGE, China – Zhongpin Inc. announced plans to expand into north China by building a new pork production facility in Tangshan city, Hebei province, east of Beijing. It will invest about $49 million for the plant that will have an annual capacity to produce about 60,000 metric tons of chilled pork, 20,000 tons of frozen pork and 22,000 tons of prepared pork products, for a total annual capacity of 102,000 metric tons.

The facility also will include cold storage with a capacity of 6,000 tons and a cold-chain logistics and distribution center. Construction is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2011, with production of chilled and frozen pork expected to start in the third quarter of 2012 and production of prepared pork products expected to start in the second quarter of 2013. The payback period for this facility is approximately five years.


"This expansion is our second production cluster in north China, and marks a significant step in our industrial cluster strategy,” said Xianfu Zhu, chairman and CEO. “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."