July 7, 2010

Origin Agritech attains 'Leading Enterprise' status

Origin Agritech Ltd has been named National Agricultural Industrialisation - 'Leading Enterprise' by a joint committee of eight ministries of the Chinese government.

Origin will hold this premier title and benefit from preferential policies such as corporate taxation exemption, preferential purchase rights, and other core development issues. This qualification is valid for the company until July 2012, and was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), People's Bank of China, State Administration of Taxation, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), and the China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Liang Yuan, CEO and president of Origin Agritech, stated, "The State of Agricultural Industrialisation - 'Leading Enterprise' designation not only gives evidence of the strength of our base business, but also a recognition of our current and future status in this crucial industry. Furthermore, a number of projects assigned by these various government ministries expressly state that only 'Leading Enterprises' can qualify toward participation. This title plays an active role of the long term development of our company."

Companies that meet the 'Leading Enterprises' criteria could be exempt from corporate income tax. During this review, these companies are identified as a priority for the country and have to comply with operational requirements set forth by the ministries.

Irving H. Kau, Origin Agritech Acting CFO commented, "The income tax exemptions may be the most important policy to the 'Leading Enterprise' title. However, Origin will also enjoy preferential policies in plant and building construction, purchase of raw materials, import and export of equipment, among other important benefits. This will certainly contribute to further enhance the company's competitiveness."

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Beijing, Origin Agritech Ltd is China's leading, vertically-integrated agricultural biotechnology company specialising in research, development and production to supply the growing populations of China.

Origin develops, grows, processes, and markets high quality, hybrid crop seeds to farmers throughout China and parts of South-east Asia via a network of approximately 3,800 first-level distributors and 65,000 second-level distributors and retailers, and possesses a pipeline of genetically modified seed products including glyphosate resistant corn and Bt Corn.

The first genetically modified corn seed product for China, Phytase corn, was approved in November 2009 of which Origin possesses exclusive rights.