Sichuan province is one of the top pig-producing provinces in China. The processing facility would have 4 German-made meat-processing lines for an annual processing capacity of 20,000 tonnes, with estimated annual sales of RMB300 million.

The site of the factory is particularly apt as the county produced a little more than 1 million hogs last year, making it the top producing country in Sichuan last year.

Shou-An city is famed for its pig production, with Ju-Feng, Jia Heng, and Wei Lan, three processing companies accredited national I status based here.

Ju-Feng and Wei Lan are mainly involved in the slaughtering and marketing of pig products, with capacity of 3 million hogs a year between them. Besides being capable of absorbing the entire 1 million production capacity of the county, it also sources pigs from other counties.

Jia-Heng has so far been involved in chilled meat products, with processing capacity of 700,000 hogs per year. As most slaughtering activities were banned in the provincial capital Chengdu this year, most plants have moved their slaughtering operations to Pujiang county, further consolidating the production, slaughtering and processing operations of the industry there.

Jia-Heng is expected to finalise a RMB$15 million deal to supply a Japanese supplier at the end of the year, marking the first time the pigs from the province is entering the Japanese market.

This August, the county started testing of its computer-based traceability programme on more than 20 farms. When completed, the system would be able to allow consumers to check from which particular farm a piece of meat they bought from the supermarket came from, along with other relevant information.