Chinese meat processor Zhongpin has completed a five-month expansion and improvement of its pork plant in the city of Anyang in the Henan province.
Zhongpin invested around US$6.6m in the reconstruction project to further improve the plant’s pre-cooling room, slaughtering line equipment, refrigeration systems, sewage treatment system, and ancillary facilities.
With the expansion, Zhongpin has increased the plant’s capacity by 35% to an annual capacity of 85,000 metric tons from the previous 63,000 metric tons.
Chilled pork capacity now accounts for about 70% of the plant’s capacity, up from the prior 60% of capacity.
Xianfu Zhu, chairman and CEO of Zhongpin said: “Our improvements in this facility, especially for chilled pork, demonstrate our already good success in Anyang and the north China market. We believe the new capacity will help us meet the rapidly growing demand for high-quality chilled pork that we expect in north China during the next several years.”
Zhongpin’s Anyang plant began operations in September 2007. The expansion in 2010 was the plant’s first major reconstruction.