China
March 19, 2008
Origin Agritech Limited
(NASDAQ GS: SEED) (“Origin”), a leading technology-focused
supplier of crop seeds and
agri-biotech research in China, today announced it has approved
six new rice hybrid varieties to its product line for
distribution during the next sales season in 5 provinces
throughout Southwest regions of China. The Company now has a
total of 67 rice seeds approved for sale throughout China.
The new rice seed products include Zhu Liang You 3, Nei Xiang
You 9, Ling You 2, Zhong You 11, De Liang You 2 and Zhu Liang
You 4290 approved in Jiangxi, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hunan and
Guangdong provinces and should provide greater product coverage
for our Company throughout China. These additional products help
the Company to continue to accumulate germplasm, as the Company
continues to plan to lead the genetically modified product
development in China. These conventionally bred hybrid seeds
form the vehicle to transport the genetic traits to the plants,
and thus play a valuable role.
The rice seed approval process is the same as the process for
corn seed, and 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 companies
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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