Origin Agritech Entered Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Inova Genetica Ltda

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Sep 17, 2019, 08:00 ET

BEIJING, Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology and rural e-commerce company, today announced that the Company has entered into a collaboration agreement with Inova Genética Ltda (INOVA), a member of the Wehrmann Group, from Cristalina-GO, Brazil.

The agreement will involve cooperation in field testing of hybrids of both Origin and INOVA in each other's geographic regions. INOVA will also cooperate with Origin to evaluate corn seed biotechnology traits for application in South American markets. In addition, Origin and INOVA will explore commercial opportunities between the two companies, especially in corn seed breeding, production and distribution in South America.

INOVA is headquartered in Cristalina-GO, Brazil, and focuses on the plant breeding business. INOVA is a member of the Wehrmann Group, which is an active participant of the seed industry and a leading company in vegetable production in Brazil. The company has Dr. Anderson Dona as research head and Dr. Roberto de Rissi as a special consultant. The group website is: www.wehrmann.com.br.

"Wehrmann, which also owns Dois Marcos seed company, is an important seed industry player in Brazil and has many years of experience in both the soybean and corn seed businesses in Brazil," said Dr. Gengchen Han, Origin's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, "our cooperation with INOVA will expand our geographic access for both our breeding technologies and our biotech traits."

"It's a great pleasure to visit Origin's facilities in Beijing, and we are impressed by Origin's biotech research and their breeding programs. We look forward to an in depth cooperation with Origin both on the biotech front and in conventional corn seed breeding programs," said Dr. Verni Wehrmann, Chairman of the Wehrmann Group.

About Origin Agritech Limited

Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is China's leading agricultural technology and a rural social e-commerce company, expanding in mid-2018 from crop seed breeding and genetic improvement business to be a leading technology developer in new rural e-commerce platform and Blockchain technologies. In crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech's phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. For further information, please visit the Company's website at: http://www.originseed.com.cn or http://www.originseed.com.cn/en/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and contain words like "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will," "would," "target," and similar expressions and variations. Forward-looking statements address matters that are uncertain. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and expectations which may not be realized. They are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates but involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control. Some of the important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements are: failure to develop and market new products and optimally manage product life cycles; ability to respond to market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies affecting our products; failure to appropriately manage process safety and product stewardship issues; changes in laws and regulations or political conditions; global economic and capital markets conditions, such as inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; business or supply disruptions; natural disasters and weather events and patterns; ability to protect and enforce the company's intellectual property rights; and separation of underperforming or non-strategic assets or businesses. The company undertakes no duty or obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments, or new information or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

SOURCE Origin Agritech Limited