Shanghai, Oct. 28 - China-Biotics, Inc., a leading Chinese firm specializing in the manufacture, research, development, marketing and distribution of probiotics products, today provided an update on its business.
The Company added eight new bulk additive customers in September and October, bringing its total number of bulk additive customers to 24. The newly signed customers are mainly engaged in manufacture of dairy, nutritional supplement, and animal feed products. The trial production of Phase I has recently begun at its new state-of-the-art production facility in Qing Pu Industrial Park in Shanghai. Phase I has a production capacity of 150 metric tons of probiotics per year.
"We are delighted to begin trial production at our new facility and start the second phase of our capacity expansion, which we expect to complete by the end of the year," said Mr. Jinan Song, China-Biotics' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to experience significant demand for our probiotics products and our pipeline of potential new bulk additive customers remains strong. As a result, we expect to achieve revenue growth of at least 50% during the 2010 fiscal year."
The Company has strengthened it senior management team to support operations at the new facility with the addition of Mr. Bin Li, vice general manager of manufacturing and Dr. Xiaoping Zhang, deputy director of R&D center. Mr. Li brings knowledge and expertise in dairy and yogurt production, having previously served as general manager of Yili Group Beijing Branch. Dr. Zhang has substantial expertise in application of probiotics, having previously served as senior R&D manager in Mengniu Dairy (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Yili Group and Mengniu Dairy are among China's top three dairy producers.
About China-Biotics, Inc.
China-Biotics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of biotechnology products and supplements, engages in the research, development, marketing and distribution of probiotics dietary supplements. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Shanghai Shining Biotechnology Co., Ltd., the Company has operations in Shanghai. Its proprietary product portfolio contains live microbial nutritional supplements under the "Shining" brand. Currently, the products are sold OTC through large distributors to pharmacies and supermarkets in Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. China-Biotics plans to launch 300 Shining brand retail outlets in major cities in China. Currently, China-Biotics is strategically expanding its production capacity of probiotics to meet growing demand in the bulk additive market.