Zhongpin Starts Expansion of its Pork Plant in Anyang

NEW YORK, March 25 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Zhongpin Inc. ("Zhongpin", Nasdaq: HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China, today announced that it has started to expand and further improve its pork plant located in the city of Anyang in Henan province.

Zhongpin will invest about $6.3 million to further improve the plant's pre-cooling room and equipment and to expand the plant's production capacity for chilled pork. With the expansion, Zhongpin will increase the plant's capacity by 35% to an annual capacity of 85,000 metric tons from the current 63,000 metric tons. After the expansion, chilled pork will account for about 70% of the plant's capacity, up from the current 60% of capacity. The four-month project is scheduled to be completed in July this year.

Mr. Xianfu Zhu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zhongpin Inc., explained, "Our presence in Anyang and the north China market has successfully increased the demand for our products, especially for chilled pork. The improvements we are making this year in our Anyang plant should help meet the rapidly growing demand for high quality chilled pork that we expect in north China over the next several years."

Zhongpin's Anyang plant began operations in September 2007. In 2009, it reached an average annual capacity utilization rate of about 82%.

In Zhongpin's marketing strategy, north China is one of the company's important markets. With the company's expansion in its geographic markets and distribution channels, the demand for its chilled and frozen pork continues to rise. One factor that adds to Zhongpin's growth is that smaller pork processing plants are gradually shutting down because they are unable to meet the government's latest stringent sanitary standards. Zhongpin's expansion in the Anyang plant will help satisfy the growing demand for Zhongpin's products in that target market.

During the expansion, the Anyang plant's operations and pork distribution to the market will operate as usual.

About Zhongpin

Zhongpin Inc. is a meat and food processing company that specializes in pork and pork products, fruits, and vegetables 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 risks 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.

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