As the first stage on a major Sino-Singaporean food production endeavor, Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) is partnering with Singapore’s Singbridge Co., a subsidiary of Singapore’s government investment firm, Temasek, for a RMB4 billion (US$640 million) pig farming and pork processing project in northern China.

 

Under the terms of the joint venture, farms and processing facilities will be established with the capacity to process 300,000 pigs by the end of 2016, with 100,000 of those pigs being shipped to Singapore.

 

The deal is a signal that movement is likely happening once again on the China Singapore Modern Agricultural Food Zone project, which was designed to combine Singaporean food safety experience with the scale of Chinese pork production, and which was originally sidelined in 2008.

 

Northern China, where the joint venture has targeted its operations, has grown to become a livestock breeding hub within the country, as the more densely populated southern provinces tighten environmental regulations regarding large-scale livestock production. Beside pork production, CP has significantly increased its activities in the region through several poultry projects as well. The firm, which has pig, aquaculture, poultry, and feed processing operations in China has experienced a great deal of success in the country due in part to the connection of Chinese-Thai company boss, Dhanin Chearavonont.

 

Analysts have made note of the potential from this joint venture for the direct exportation to Singapore, an ASEAN hub and one of the wealthiest nations in the region.