Beijing, China
June 13, 2008
Strong internal breeding
program continues to bring new hybrid and genetically-modified
products to markets
Origin Agritech Limited
(NASDAQ: SEED) (“Origin” or the “Company”), a leading
technology-focused supplier of crop seed and agri-biotech
research in China, today announced it has approved three new
corn hybrid varieties and one new GM cotton variety for
distribution during the 2009 sales season in five provinces
throughout China. The Company has a total of 68 corn seeds and
15 cotton seeds approved for sale in China.
The new corn seed products include Ao Nuo 1, Yu Ao 6, and Li Yu
16. Ao Nuo 1 is approved for provincial distribution in Beijing
and Liaoning. Yu Ao 6 is approved for provincial distribution in
Inner Mongolia, and Li Yu 16 is approved for distribution in
Hubei province. Of the three new corn seed products approved for
distribution, we are especially excited about the acceptance of
Li Yu 16 in Hubei province, as it is one of our top selling corn
seeds in our product line. With these additional approvals, the
Company will provide even broader product coverage throughout
China.
Ao Mian 6 is a genetically modified (GM) cotton seed approved
for distribution in Henan province. Further penetration of our
GM cotton seed continues to support the adoption of GMOs in
China. Cotton GMO adoption in approved provinces is nearing 100
percent.
The corn seed approval process is one of the most rigorous
regulatory requirements in all of China. The approval requires
the applicant to undergo two growing seasons of monitored growth
in at least five different locations in the region. Seeds
submitted for testing are planted together with control seeds,
which are typically the most popular seeds in the testing
regions. Only seeds that have an increased yield of 5-8% or
higher versus the control seeds are cleared to proceed to the
second year of testing.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Beijing, Origin Agritech
Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) is one of China’s leading,
vertically-integrated agricultural technology company
specializing in agri-biotech research, development and
production to supply the growing populations of China. Origin
develops, grows, processes, and markets crop seeds to farmers
throughout China and parts of Southeast Asia via a network of
approximately 3,800 first-level distributors and 6,500
second-level distributors. The hybrid seed industry is estimated
at US$2 billion and that is expected to double by 2010. The
Company currently operates facilities in 30 of China’s 32
provinces as well as Beijing. Since Origin launched its first
entirely internally developed seed in 2003, the Company has
developed and commercialized an internally developed proprietary
seed portfolio of twelve corn hybrids, twelve rice hybrids and
two canola hybrids as of 2007. |
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