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Zhongpin Expands Into Premium Food Oil Business

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 06:00 CDT

CHANGGE and BEIJING, China, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Zhongpin Inc. ("Zhongpin", Nasdaq: HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China, today announced that it will enter the premium food oil business.

This new business line will further enhance the brand identity of Zhongpin, broaden its product lines and core competencies, increase capacity utilization and profitability, and reduce waste.

"In addition to increasing our brand identity, core competencies, product lines, and production capabilities, this expansion has two other benefits," said Mr. Xianfu Zhu, Chairman and CEO of Zhongpin. "First is the expected increase in our return on investment, which is one of our primary financial goals. And second is further effective utilization of the raw materials we consume in our pork and pork processing production, since premium food oils will be co-products from our current processing. The new plant will benefit from all the same modern process engineering and information technology advances we have been applying to all of our facilities. We have only one production standard -- the world's highest product quality and safety in the pork industry."

The premium food oils will be sold through Zhongpin's existing sales channels to both wholesale and retail customers. Wholesalers will include business customers, such as well-known food companies as well as large high-end chain restaurants. Individual consumers will be able to buy the new premium food oils in Zhongpin's retail stores and in network stores that carry the Zhongpin line of branded food products.

The new plant, to be located in the Zhongpin Food Industrial Park in Changge, Henan province, will have an initial annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons for premium quality food oils. Construction is planned to begin in September 2009. The plant, with state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, is expected to be operating in the second quarter 2010. The total investment in the new project is approximately RMB 38 million or US$ 5.6 million.

About Zhongpin

Zhongpin Inc. is a meat and food processing company that specializes in pork and pork products, vegetables, and fruits in China. Its distribution network in the China covers 20 provinces plus Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing and includes more than 3,000 retail outlets. Zhongpin's export markets include the European Union and Southeast Asia. For more information about Zhongpin, please visit Zhongpin's website at http://www.zpfood.com .

Safe harbor statement

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Zhongpin has based its forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and trends that it believes may affect its business strategy, results of operations, financial condition, and financing needs. These projections 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 downturns in the Chinese economy, unanticipated changes in product demand, any effect from the A(H1N1) virus on Zhongpin's market or sales, interruptions in the supply of live pigs and or raw pork, poor performance of the retail distribution network, delivery delays, freezer facility malfunctions, Zhongpin's ability to build and commence new production facilities according to intended timelines, the ability to prepare Zhongpin for growth, the ability to predict Zhongpin's future financial performance and financing ability, changes in regulations, and other information detailed in Zhongpin's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating Zhongpin's forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All information provided in this news release is as of the date of this release. Zhongpin does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Zhongpin Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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