CP Group brings agricultural strengths to southern port
The 12 billion yuan ($1.74 billion) modern agricultural project jointly developed by Thailand agri-food company CP Group and the Zhanjiang city government is expected to significantly enhance the city’s food industry.
The project, Chia Tai (Zhanjiang) Modern Agricultural Investment, is designed to produce 100 million chickens, 1 million pigs and 24,000 metric tons of shrimp each year. CP Group and the city’s State-owned assets supervision and administration commission together invested in the chicken and pig projects.
Zhanjiang possesses abundant resources available for agricultural development and a convenient geographic location for covering the vast markets of Guangdong province, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Hainan province and Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, with both road and sea transport available, said Qiao Yuantao, president of CP Group’s operation in Guangdong.
With both its facilities and cooperation with local farmers, the CP joint venture’s chicken production is expected to top 30 million chickens next year and 100 million chickens in 2020.
As the project also includes a food processing facility, the company launched its chicken products last month.
It plans to produce 500,000 pigs next year and 1 million in 2021.
With its feed manufacturing and fruit and vegetable farming facilities, the project will feature a circular economy, with some food products going to CP Group’s retail outlets in China as part of its retail expansion ambitions, Qiao said.
Chia Tai (Zhanjiang) Modern Agricultural Investment also acknowledges its social responsibility by working with local farmers and lifting their standards of living, he said.
As one of the world’s leading agri-food companies, CP Group has applied the latest technologies to its facilities in Zhanjiang.
For example, an annual 150,000ton chicken feed facility is now managed by only a small number of workers as a result of production automation, he said.
To safeguard food safety, the group also applies a system for quality control and tracing along its entire supply chain.
CP Group’s investments in Zhanjiang also include an auto parts plant and two supermarkets, with one more supermarket coming later this year.