Mainland poultry and livestock firm Henan Chuying Agro-Pastoral plans to spend four billion yuan (HK$4.74 billion) to set up a 400,000-hectare organic pig farm in Henan province.
Expected to be completed in five years, the facility will include a pig-feed processing plant as well as pig farms and a pig processing plant. Approval has already been given for the development.
Wu Yide, a director of the Shenzhen-listed group, said the mainland meat industry was starting to integrate and modernise rapidly amid the central government's concerns about food safety and food security.
'Food safety is one of the major issues highlighted in NPC and CPPCC meetings. And the recent incident concerning the Shanghui Group has rung alarm bells,' Wu said, referring to the discovery of the illegal additive, clenbuterol, in pork products by the Shanghui group's Shineway brand.
'There is a strong demand for safe, quality pork products. If a big corporation can control the whole supply chain - from farming and feed to the actual production of pork, it can definitely control the quality of pork,' Wu said.
The price of pork has increased steadily over the past 12 months.
