SIAF Sino Agro Food Inc (CE)

ITEM 1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

In this Annual Report, unless the context requires otherwise, references to the “Company,” “Sino Agro,” “SIAF,” “we,” “our company” and “us” refer to Sino Agro Food, Inc., a Nevada corporation together with its subsidiaries.

BUSINESS

Sino Agro Food, Inc.

SIAF is an agriculture technology and natural food holding company with principal operations in the People’s Republic of China. The Company acquires and maintains equity stakes in a cohesive portfolio of companies that SIAF forms according to its core mission to produce, distribute, market and sell natural, sustainable protein food and produce, primarily seafood and cattle, to the rapidly growing middle class in China. SIAF provides financial oversight and strategic direction for each company, and for the interoperation between companies, stressing vertical integration between the levels of the Company’s subsidiary food chain. The Company owns or licenses patents, proprietary methods, and other intellectual properties in its areas of expertise. SIAF provides technology consulting and services to joint venture partners to construct and operate food businesses, primarily producing wholesale fish and cattle. Further joint ventures market and distribute the wholesale products as part of an overall “farm to plate” concept and business strategy.

Revenues by division were as follows (in millions of U.S. dollars):

History

The Company, which was formerly known as Volcanic Gold, Inc. and A Power Agro Agriculture Development, Inc., was incorporated on October 1, 1974 in the State of Nevada. The Company was formerly engaged in the mining and exploration business but ceased the mining and exploring business in 2005. On 24 August 2007, the Company entered into a merger and acquisition agreement with CA, a Belize corporation and its subsidiaries CS and CH. Effective of the same date, CA completed a reverse merger transaction with the Company.

For two years after its introduction in China, the Company operated in the dairy segment, but sold the dairy business in December of 2009 and began to implement its five-year plan to develop its vertically integrated business operations consisting of (i) cattle fattening and production of beef products and (ii) cultivation of fish and prawn and related products. The Company now operates as an engineering, technology and consulting company specializing in building and operating agriculture and aquaculture farms in China.

Our principal executive office is located at Room 3801, 38 ^th Floor, Block A, China Shine Plaza, No. 9 Lin He Xi Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, PRC, 510610.

The table below provides an overview of key events in the development of the business of the Company.

Through December 31, 2018, the Company has been contracted as turnkey contractor to the owners and developers of the C&S Project Companies and acted as the master engineer, pioneering the construction and building of farms, from raw land into fully operational facilities. In each development the Company completes the construction and building of infrastructure including staff quarters, offices, processing facilities, storage, and all related production facilities. The Company’s management teams are responsible for developing all business activities into effective and efficient operations. From October 1, 2016, onward, Tri-way has assumed the role as developer of aquaculture projects in China with CA contracted to provide turnkey contracted services for those projects.

Over the past ten years, the Company has matured into a company dedicated to the agriculture and aquaculture industry in China. The Company currently maintains operations of its HU Plantation as well as its services in engineering consulting and specializing in the development of two major products, namely meat derived from the rearing of beef cattle and seafood derived from the growth of fish, prawns, eel and other marine species.

Background

After successfully developing many aquaculture fishery farms, cattle farms and related business operations (along with sales and marketing of produce and products) in Australia and Malaysia since 1998, SIAF’s management team introduced our business activities in China in 2006. We are an engineering and consulting company that specializes in building and operating agriculture and aquaculture farms.

To accomplish this, we use our expertise and know how in specific agriculture and aquaculture technologies. Our “A Power Re-circulating Aquaculture System,” sometimes referred to herein as APRAS, is a patented and proven technology for indoor fish farming. We have developed modern techniques and technologies to grow, feed and house both fish and cattle. These are engineered into the designs of, and the management systems for, indoor and outdoor fishery and cattle farms. Our experience managing crops, and employing technologies, including hydroponic, to work within climate and growing conditions optimizes production of organic, green and natural agricultural produce.

In all of our developments we have acted as the master engineer, pioneering the construction and building of farms, from raw land into fully operational facilities. We complete the construction and building of infrastructure including staff quarters, offices, processing facilities, storage, and all related production facilities. Our management teams are responsible for developing all business activities into effective and efficient operations.

During the past years, SIAF has matured into a company dedicated to the agriculture and aquaculture industry in China. We currently maintain operation of our HU Plantation as well as our services in engineering consulting, specializing in the development of two major products, namely meat derived from the rearing of beef cattle and seafood derived from the growth of fish, prawns, eel and other marine species. 

Revenues are generated from activities that we divide into five stand-alone business divisions or units: (1) Fishery development, (2) Cattle & Beef, (3) Organic Fertilizer, (4) HU Plantation, and (5) Marketing and Trading. This fifth and newest division, “Marketing and Trading” represents our strongest push to vertically integrate the Company’s operations, furthering the Company’s overall “farm to plate” concept.

Corporate Acquisitions

On September 5, 2007, we acquired two businesses in the People’s Republic of China (“ PRC ”):

(a) Tri-Way Industries Ltd., Hong Kong (“ TRW ”) (formerly known as Tri-way Industries Limited), a company incorporated in Hong Kong; and

(b) Macau EIJI Co. Ltd., Macau (“ MEIJI ”) (formerly known as Macau Eiji Company Limited), a company incorporated in Macau, and the owner of 75% equity interest in Enping City Juntang Town Hang Sing Tai Agriculture Co. Ltd. (“ HST ”), a PRC corporate Sino Foreign joint venture.

On November 27, 2007, MEIJI and HST established a corporate Sino Foreign joint venture, Jiangmen City Heng Sheng Tai Agriculture Development Co. Ltd, China (“ JHST ”) (formerly known as Jiang Men City Heng Sheng Tai Agriculture Development Co. Ltd.), a company incorporated in the PRC with MEIJI owning a 75% interest and HST owning a 25% interest. HST was dissolved in 2010.

In September 2009, we formed a 100% owned subsidiary in Macau, A Power Agriculture Development (Macau) Ltd., China (“ APWAM ”) (formerly known as A Power Agro Agriculture Development (Macau) Limited). APWAM presently owns 45% of a corporate Sino Foreign joint venture, Qinghai Sanjiang A Power Agriculture Co. Ltd. (“ SJAP ”). On March 23, 2017, a third party, Qinghai Quanwang Investment Management Company Limited acquired a 8.3% equity interest and APWAM owned 41.25% equity interest of SJAP as of December 31, 2017. SJAP is engaged in the business of manufacturing bioorganic fertilizer, livestock feed and development of other agriculture projects in the County of Huangyuan, in the vicinity of the Xining City, Qinghai Province, PRC.

On February 28, 2011, TRW applied to form a corporate joint venture, Enping City A Power Prawn Culture Development Co. Ltd., China (“ EBAPCD ”) (formerly known as Enping City Bi Tao A Power Fishery Development Co., Limited), which is incorporated in the PRC. TRW initially owned a 25% equity interest in EBAPFD. On November 17, 2011, TRW formed Jiangmen City A Power Fishery Development Co. Ltd, China (“ JFD ”) (formerly known as Jiang Men City A Power Fishery Development Co., Limited) in which it acquired a 25% equity interest, while withdrawing its 25% equity interest in EBAPFD. As of December 31, 2011, we had invested $1,258,607 in JFD. JFD operates an indoor fish farm. On January 1, 2012, we acquired an additional 25% equity interest in JFD for total cash consideration of $1,662,365. On April 1, 2012, we acquired an additional 25% equity interest in JFD for the amount of $1,702,580. Prior to October 5 ^th 2016 we owned a 75% equity interest in JFD and control its board of directors. As of September 30, 2012, we had consolidated the assets and operations of JFD. From October 5 ^th 2016 we brought out the remaining 25% equity interest in JFD for consideration of $4,517,426 and sold the 100% equity interest in JFD to Tri-way (inclusive all original assets of its one farm namely Fish Farm 1 that was changed to name Aqua-Farm 1 and of other additional assets transferred from work in progress etc.) for $33,538,480; and converted JFD into a Wholly Owned Foreign Entity (WOFE) such that Tri-way is holding 100% equity interest in JFD; and simultaneously (on October 5 ^th 2016) JFD completed the acquisition: of the assets and operation from owners and investors of four other aquaculture farms (namely Aqua-farm 2, 3 and 4) for $277,055,897 collectively; and the acquisition of a Master License from CA for the rights of future development and operation of our APRAS farms in China for $30,000,000 resulting that we were owing 23.89% equity interest in Tri-way as at October 5 ^th 2016. The Company converted the amount due from unconsolidated equity investee into equity interest during the fourth quarter of 2017, which resulted in equity interest in TRW from 23.89% to 36.60%.

On April 15, 2011, MEIJI applied to form Enping City A Power Beef Cattle Farm 2 Co. Ltd., China (“ EAPBCF ”) (formerly known as Enping City A Power Cattle Farm Co., Limited), all of which we would indirectly own a 25% equity interest in as of November 17, 2011. On September 13, 2012 MEIJI formed Jiangmen City Hang Mei Cattle Farm Development Co. Ltd., a company incorporated in the PRC (“ JHMC ”) (formerly known as Jiang Men City Hang Mei Cattle Farm Development Co., Limited) in which it owns 75% equity interest with an investment of $3,636,326, while withdrawing its 25% equity interest in ECF. As of September 30, 2012, we had consolidated the assets and operations of JHMC.

Cross-Listing on the Merkur Market

On January 13, 2016, securities representing beneficial interests in the shares of common stock on the Company, referred to as VPS Shares, began to be traded on the Oslo Børs’ Merkur Market under the symbol “SIAF-ME.” The Company’s common shares continued to trade on the OTCQB under the symbol “SIAF.”

The Merkur Market is a multilateral trading facility operated by Oslo Børs ASA. The Merkur Market is subject to the rules in the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and the Securities Trading Regulations that apply to such marketplaces. These rules apply to companies admitted to trading on the Merkur Market, as do the marketplace’s own rules, which are less comprehensive than the rules and regulations that apply to companies listed on Oslo Børs and Oslo Axess. The Merkur Market is not a regulated market, and is therefore not subject to the Norwegian Stock Exchange Act or to the Stock Exchange Regulations. Investors should take this into account when making investment decisions.

Delisting from the Merkur Market

In January of 2019 the Company applied to Oslo Børs ASA for the delisting from the Merkur Market. The principal reason for the delisting from the Merkur is the difference in the disclosure rules that the Merkur requires; the Merkur requires the disclosure of information prior to occurrence of a particular event which is inherently forward-looking in nature and thus potentially speculative; consequently, any such disclosure could thus be in conflict with US securities laws.

Uplisting to the OTC QX Premier

On January 19, 2016, the Company’s shares of common stock began to be traded on the OTCQX ^® Best Market in the U.S. under its existing ticker symbol “SIAF.” The Company upgraded to OTCQX Premier from the OTCQB ^® Venture Market.

The OTCQX ^® Market is the top tier of the U.S. over-the-counter markets operated by OTC Markets Company. It is reserved for established investor-focused companies meeting high financial and governance standards, and sponsored by professional third party advisors. SIAF has qualified to trade on OTCQX U.S. Premier, for which eligibility standards are higher still. For comparison, as of December 31, 2015, there were 942 companies traded on the OTCQB, 425 companies traded on the OTCQX and 98 companies traded on OTCQX U.S. Premier, of which only 17 are non-bank companies.

With OTCQX admission, OTC Market Company’s Blue Sky Monitoring Service provides the Company with a customized daily audit of its compliance status in all 50 states. Blue Sky compliance is mandatory for broker-dealers and registered investment advisors to solicit or recommend a security to investors.

U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com .

Emerging Growth Company

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.0 billion or (b) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. We refer to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 herein as the “JOBS Act” and references herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

As an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of specified reduced disclosure and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include:

We have taken advantage of some of these reduced burdens, and thus the information we provide stockholders may be different from what you might receive from other public companies in which you hold shares.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. However, we are choosing to “opt out” of such extended transition period, and as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that our decision to opt out of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

Legal structure

The Company is primarily a holding company whose operations are carried out through its subsidiaries.

The table below sets out information about the entities in which the Company, as of the date of this Annual Report, holds (directly or indirectly) more than 10 percent of the outstanding capital and votes.

The table below sets out a brief description of the companies within the Company as well as the Company’s respective holdings within such companies and their domiciles.

In addition to the legal entities included in the chart and table above, the Company is providing technology know-how with consulting service and turnkey contracting services (“ C&S ”) to various Chinese owned Project Companies (“ C&S Project Company ”) which mainly are private companies formed in China with Chinese citizens acting as legal representatives. The Company does not have any ownership in these C&S Project Companies. However, in consideration of the Company’s right to protect its technology and know-how granted to the C&S Project Companies, the Company has an option to acquire equity stakes in the future SFJVC at an agreed value equivalent to the project’s development cost.

In addition, regarding the investment agreement between QZH and QQI, (i) QQI enjoyed 6% annual interest on its capital contribution, but not any profit distribution; (ii) investment period was 3 years, and (iii) SJAP shared 100% (2016: 100%) on profit or loss after 6% interest payment to QQI and enjoyed 100% (2016: 100%) voting rights of QZH’s board and stockholders meetings.

As of December 30, 2017, the Company register authority approved the transferred of the Company’s (35.36%) equity interest in QZH to an unrelated third party, such that as from December 30, 2017 QZH was derecognized as a variable interest entity. (Further related information is provided throughout this report).

Business model

The Company works with Chinese investors to form operating companies, in which the Company retains the option to acquire equity interest. After a certain period of time and successful operating results, the Company and the Chinese investor may form a Sino Foreign Joint Venture Company (“ SFJVC ”). Prior to the formal naming, registration, and incorporation of an anticipated SFJVC, the Company prepays a deposit toward the consideration of its future SFJVC stake as a percentage of the assets of the fully developed farm. Upon conversion, the prepayments become equity capital.

The Company oversees financing and provides interoperating strategies, encouraging vertically integrated growth. China has problems with quality assurance in primary production, distribution and poor origin traceability, as well as low food quality. This has created a market where consumers will eventually pay significant price premiums for “BAP (Best Aquaculture Practice) Certified” seafood with brands guaranteeing quality and consistency.

A vertically integrated operation in a fragmented and poorly regulated environment such as in China is the strategy that will yield the most success for the Company. Our presence in retailing and wholesale markets generates market power and provides potential for both margin maintenance and expansion.

Integration into fertilizer and feed production for rearing of beef cattle together with breeding of prawn brood stock help decrease primary production operational risks as well as helping to offset price fluctuations that sometimes occur in raw product input prices.

The Company uses expertise and know-how in specific agriculture and aquaculture technologies. The Company’s “A Power Re-circulating Aquaculture System” (the “ APRAS ”) is a proven recirculating aquaculture system (“ RAS ”) technology for indoor fish farming. The Company has developed modern techniques and technologies to grow, feed and house both fish and cattle. These are engineered into the designs of, and the management systems for, indoor and outdoor fishery and cattle farms. . In all developments the Company acts as the master engineer, pioneering the construction and building of farms, from raw land into fully operational facilities. The Company builds the infrastructure including staff quarters, offices, processing facilities, storage, and all related production facilities; then, manages developing of all business activities into effective and efficient operations. The Company’s largest customer represents a Company of thirty separate live seafood wholesalers at the Guangzhou wholesale markets.

The Company holds licenses for fertilizer formulas, enzyme patents, and for indoor fish farm techniques, including a “master license” in China for “A Power Technology” (“ APT ”), a modular land-based fish growing system and technology utilizing RAS.

The Company partners with Chinese investors in food projects as a turnkey project manager

The Company engages in projects as a technological and engineering expert, partnering with local and regional investors in food related projects. The Company generally has exclusive marketing, sales and distribution rights for each project company. For example, MEIJI purchases all marketable cattle from Cattle farm 2 and distributes them to wholesale markets. Up until September 30 ^, 2016, prior to SIAF becoming an investment associate of Tri-way (i.e. post-carve-out), CA had been purchasing all seafood produced by the fishery farms and also supplied the fishery farms with fingerling, baby or adult fish or prawns and stock feed. Thus, CA is no longer involved in any sales, marketing and supplies of fishery goods being operated by Tri-way yet will continue to carry out its current contracts with other entities, as well as developing other business ties that are interested in utilizing its services.

Generally, the Company exercises an option to acquire a majority equity stake in the project company once development of the operating company has matured and successful operating results are demonstrated. Prior to acquisition, the Company prepays a deposit toward the acquisition consideration of the project company. Upon acquisition and conversion into a SFJVC, the pre-payments together with a cash consideration become equity capital, with the Company becoming a major shareholder.

Acquired project companies are operated and managed by the management team and the Chinese investor, and overseen by the Company.

Land ownership in China

In China, nearly all land is owned by the Central Government or local village collectives, which grant “usufructuary” rights (i.e., the right to use and enjoy the derived benefits for a period of time) in the form of land use rights. This is similar to “leasehold” land rights in the United States. Corporate entities and individuals may own the property (buildings) erected on Government land. Land use rights may be transferred, but they are based on agricultural contracts, and cannot be changed arbitrarily to non-agricultural purposes.

Business overview

Introduction

The Company is an agriculture technology and natural food holding company with principal operations in China participating in the ongoing transformation of China’s fragmented agrarian sector into a modern food production industry using sustainable and profitable methods. The Company focuses on seafood and beef production with integrated wholesale distribution. The Company acquires and maintains equity stakes in a cohesive portfolio of companies that the Company forms according to its core mission to produce, distribute, market and sell natural, sustainable protein food and produce, primarily seafood and cattle, to the rapidly growing middle class in China.

The Company employs a strategy of vertical integration from primary production through processing, distribution and marketing of high quality, organic food products in the food value chain. China’s fast growing middle class is creating rapidly rising demand for gourmet and high-quality protein food. The Company’s core products are live prawns, live eels, whole beef cattle and packaged beef meat.

The Company’s operations and strategy are executed through a number of subsidiaries located in China, and the Company contributes financial oversight and strategic direction to otherwise independent management teams which employ the Company’s intellectual property and proprietary methods within aquaculture, beef cattle rearing and production of organic fertilizer.

The Company has enjoyed strong growth since the Company initiated its business activities in China in 2006. During the fiscal year of 2018, the Company’s consolidated revenues amounted to USD $141,670,563. The four principal factors that have enabled the growth are:

The Company provides consulting and services to a number of private Chinese third party companies to construct and operate primary production facilities for fish, prawn and beef cattle, as well as wholesale marketing and distribution centers. As part of its consulting and service agreements, the Company has the option to acquire these operations in order to expand the Company’s proprietary production and wholesaling capacity.

Revenues are generated from activities that are divided into five stand-alone business divisions:

Aquaculture division

CA has entered into and completed several CSC’s (i.e., the Fish Farm 1 (or Aqua-Farm 1)) for JFD, the Prawn Farm 1 (Or Aqua-Farm 3) for EBAPCD and construction and development work still in progress for the Prawn Farm 2 (or Aqua-Farm 2) at Xin Hui District and the Prawn Farm 3 (or Aqua-Farm 4) and Prawn Farm 4 (or Aqua-Farm 5) at San Jiao Town Zhongshan for ZSAPP.

Prior to September 30, 2016, CA was the sole marketing, sales and distribution agent of the APRAS fishery and prawn farms. CA had purchased all marketable fish and prawn from the farms, and then sold them to wholesale markets. CA also supplied the farms with fingerlings, baby or adult fish or prawns, and stock feed. CA generated revenue from the sale of seafood bought from farms that either had been Company subsidiaries or C&S Project Companies.

However, since then, Tri-way has acquired all assets and operation of CA’s C&S related project farms (i.e. Aqua-Farm 1 to 5) and SIAF has carved-out its controlling interest in Tri-way to 23.89% + debt converted to equity of 12.71% totaling to 36.6%, such that Tri-way, the subsidiary, is categorized as an “investment in associate” holding of SIAF, as a result of SIAF’s deemed disposal of equity interest in the subsidiary.

Integrated Cattle Farm division (SJAP & QZH)

Operated by SJAP, the Integrated Cattle Farm division is the business unit of the Company active in beef cattle rearing and value added processing of domestic and imported beef meat. Revenue for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 19.23 million or 13.6 percent of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for SJAP’s integrated cattle farm division in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 4.3 million, or 19.86 percent of the Company’s total gross profit in sales of goods of USD 21.65 million in the same period.

SJAP has slowed down its beef cattle rearing and fattening division since 2017 and is no longer involved with the corporative growers in the fattening of beef cattle due primarily to the depressed markets of the local cattle and beef industry caused mainly by the opening of the beef imports from a great number of developed countries that un-balanced the local cattle industry. Revenue for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 6.64 million or 4.7 percent of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for same division in the fiscal year ended December 31,2018 was at a loss of USD(0.98) million, or (4.5)% of the Company’s total gross profit in sales of goods of USD 21.65 million in the same period.

SJAP now has in its own property twelve cattle houses, with its smaller buildings housing a minimum of 200 head and larger cattle houses accommodating up to 350 head.

The SJAP’s fertilizer division’s revenue for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 3.02 million or 2.1 percent of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.65 million in the same period. Gross profit for same division in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 0.89 million, or 4.1% of the Company’s total gross profit in sales of goods of USD 21.65 million in the same period.

The Company prepares its agricultural wastes into bioorganic fertilizer through the environmentally friendly “Bacterial and Bio-organic Fertilizer Manufacturing Technology.” Also, the livestock feed is prepared into bioorganic livestock feed. Livestock feed consists of raw material consisting of crop wastes as well as locally grown and available wild wheat plus wild wheat sterns, wild peas with sterns and leaves, and selective pastures grown in the wild. These raw materials will be finely cut and put through several aging and fermentation processes by adopting a technology and method called “Stock Feed Manufacturing Technology,” and catalyzed by the enzyme developed by SJAP. Thereafter, the end materials will be packed and sealed in airtight and weatherproof packaging ready for storage.

Bioorganic fertilizer and the bio-organic livestock feed is sold to farmers that work on the Company’s land-use rights, which is owned by the government and leased with a subsidy or rent free, due to the many benefits for the community. Fertilizer and livestock feed are prepared based on the Company’s patented enzyme. The use of the enzyme is synergistic, as the production of fertilizer and livestock feed is permissible all 12 months of the year, which is a competitive advantage.

The Bulk Livestock feed:

The farmers use the bioorganic fertilizer on the soil and feed the grain to the cattle and sheep together with the livestock feed. Government tests show:

Through an acquired patent, ¹ the fat content of a 24 month-old cattle can be decreased from 18 kg to 5 kg, which improves the quality of the meat and its yield. The inventor of the patent is now an equity partner in SJAP.

SJAP’s feed division has two types of livestock feeds, namely “Bulk stock feed” mentioned above and “Concentrated stock feed” mentioned below and revenue for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 1.52 million or 1.07 percent of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.65 million for the bulk stock feed and USD 8.04 million or 5.7 percent of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.65 million for the Concentrated stock feed in the same period. Gross profit for same division in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 0.82 million, or 3% of and USD 3.56 million, or 13.3% of the Company’s total gross profit in sales of goods of USD 21.65 million for the Bulk stock feed and Concentrated stock feed respectively in the same period.

The Concentrated livestock feed:

On February 28, 2013, SJAP completed its development of the Concentrated Livestock Feed (“ CLF ”) manufacturing factory, and started the production and sales of CLF. This CLF complements SJAP’s bulk livestock feed to provide the local cattle and sheep farming industry with a completed feed formula that can cater to the rearing of cattle and sheep at various growing cycles (e.g., specially formulated mixes with efficient nutrients for dairy cows and sheep, weaning, fattening and mature cattle and sheep). The advantage of the formulated feed combination is that the cattle and sheep growers will realize cost savings in production knowing precisely the amount of concentrated feed that will be needed by their livestock, thus avoiding wasted excess concentrated feed due to over feeding, which results in worthless excess fat in mature animals. In this respect, the Chinese central government has placed an order with SJAP to reserve up to 5,000 MT of CLF annually as part of the country’s annual reserve emergency livestock feed inventory. Thus, since March 2013 onward, SJAP has generated additional revenue generated from the sales of CLF. 

SJAP sells its fertilizer and bulk and concentrated livestock feed mainly to its regional farmers in addition to using it to rear its own grown cattle, but because its geographic location is so far away from other major provinces there are high costs associated with selling its fertilizer, bulk and concentrated livestock feed and live cattle other than to local purchasers. Conversely, equivalent imports from other provinces must be purchased at a higher cost, providing SJAP with a competitive edge. Furthermore, Qinghai Province is a region rearing millions of cattle and sheep per year, providing an ample market for SJAP’s fertilizer and livestock feed. 

¹ T1 Enzyme Technology (T1), Patent number ZL2005 10063039.9.

The Company is constantly looking and analyzing various optional business plans to enhance SJAP’s operation with improved financial performances, yet at present there is no plan has been finalized.

The average price paid to cooperatives for their fattened cattle is RMB50/Kg or RMB4/kg above average market prices, whichever is higher. A commitment by SJAP to the cooperative farmer to exercise its option to purchase cattle is made well in advance to lock-in the price before other buyers step in and also to obtain the producer’s commitment to raise its cattle based on SJAP’s quality standard for purchase. Again, if the quality of cattle raised by the cooperative does not meet SJAP standards, then there is no purchase obligation on SJAP’s part to carry out its commitment. Over the past few years until Q3 2015, when the Government relaxed its beef import policy, SJAP had generated good profit margins working under this arrangement. Since then, profit margins have steadily been depleted, such that by mid-2017 if SJAP had continued to commit buying additional heads of cattle from the cooperatives, it would have resulted in continuous operating losses for SJAP in 2017 and 2018 estimated to total $46.75 million (cumulative) based on an average market loss of RMB11.5/Kg (or $1.75/Kg), excluding other operating expenses. This alone had provided incentive for the Company to decide on what its alternatives were to sustain (and absorb) such losses, which for all intents and purposes was not an option considering current cash flow issues with the Company.

The local Government has been working with SJAP to develop a long-term plan to help ameliorate the problem faced by SJAP as well as other cattle houses throughout the region, yet the timeframe that appeared necessary to carry out a solution would also mean incurring more losses without the means to cover those losses in the meantime.

What has been decided between SJAP and its investors, including SIAF, and the local Government in the interest of its stakeholders was the following solution:

Also, consideration had to be given to the cost being incurred to meet the new regulations implemented by the Central Government on slaughterhouse operations, which license is currently held by QZH. Currently, it’s estimated that having both the funding and slaughterhouse operations underway meeting these new standards will take approximately 2 years to materialize; again, another source of income that would be completely curtailed until slaughterhouse operations were back online.

Taking into consideration and weighing its options, SJAP decided to eliminate any additional losses being incurred through QZH and has decided to discontinue QZH operations with the understanding that if favorable market conditions were to reoccur as well as the slaughterhouse license reinstituted in addition to Governmental assistance in developing a long-range plan being implemented that consideration will be given to resuming QZH operations in the future.

Thus, as of December 30, 2017 (the “deemed date of disposal”), QZH was derecognized as a variable interest entity and SIAF, based on its proportional ownership of QZH through its variable interest entity SJAP, had incurred a net loss on disposal totaling $9,365,543 as delineated in the following table:

Under the arrangement of the disposal agreement between all parties, it was agreed to that:

•       SJAP is no longer liable and responsible for the liabilities of QZH.

•      If any profit will be derived from the sale of existing fixed assets of QZH, 50% of any gained profit will be paid to SJAP with SIAF receiving its proportional share of the proceeds.

•      There will be an annual royalty fee paid by QZH to SJAP/SIAF calculated at 25% of QZH net income over the next 3 years beginning January 1, 2018, if operations were to be reinstituted within this period.

•      Also, if QZH operations were to resume under the Government’s plan to establish QZH as a regional hub for beef processing, value-added production, etc. within the next 3-years, an option to buy up to 25% equity of QZH at its fair book value (net of the loss incurred from disposal) would be made available to the Company or its nominee, on or before December 30, 2020.

Taking into consideration all issues related to the ongoing losses incurred by QZH, the Company believes that its support in favor of QZH’s disposal is the best option for its shareholders at this time foregoing incurring further and greater losses from QZH while leaving the door open to reinvest in QZH if, and when, the larger issues are resolved and the regional beef hub plan is able to be implemented.

Organic Fertilizer (HSA) division

The Organic fertilizer (HSA)’s revenue generated in fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was USD 9.67 million, or 6.86%, of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for this division for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was USD 2.77 million, or 12.79% of the Company’s total gross profit on sales of goods of USD 21.65 million in the same period.

The operation in Linli District, Hunan Province, is run by HSA, a 76% owned Chinese subsidiary. HSA conducts the following business activities, both of which are in the development stage:

By January 2013, the first organic fertilizer production plant was established and started its production of organic fertilizer (“ OF ”). On March 5, 2013, HSA secured the rights to use an enzyme developed by a Hong Kong company some twenty years ago that has been utilized by global manufacturers of organic fertilizer. The advantage of this particular enzyme is that when it is applied to the organic fertilizer it has the ability to convert part of the organic raw materials into potash and phosphate without having to add in chemically formulated potash and phosphate, such that the Company’s end fertilizer can be qualified as pure organic fertilizer made with 100% natural organic raw materials. With this pure organic fertilizer, HSA is in a position to fully explore the potential market for fish in farm lakes and thereby to attempt to align itself with the government’s policy of encouraging lake fish farmers to use pure organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers. In addition, cost savings from avoiding the use of chemical potash and phosphate will, in management’s belief, result in a better profit margin for the Company. Sales of pure organic fertilizer commenced at the end of Q1 2013. By 2014 HSA successfully developed a different mixed organic fertilizer specially designed and composed for the application in lakes to provide nutrients to enhance growth of water plants and microorganisms in the lakes that the fish are fed on. We call this type of fertilizer “the Organic Mixed Fertilizer” (“ OMF ”). In the same year, HSA also developed a domestic pack of fertilizer called the “Retailed Pack Fertilizer” (“ RPF ”) supplying to the super market chain. As such there are three types of fertilizers being produced with:

(a). The OF is being used for the growing of crops, vegetables and plants,

(b). The OMF is being used for the growing of fish in the lakes, and

(c). The Retailed Pack fertilizer (“ RPF ”) are being used by domestic households.

By Q2 2016, HSA completed its construction work of and started production operation with its second fertilizer production plant.

Construction work to develop HSA’s cattle station that began in March 2012 by cutting half of the hill at site next to the fertilizer production site that cost far more than the budget originally estimated (from the budgeted $8 million to almost $20 million) due mainly to extra-work required to satisfy compliance of the additional environmental impact conditions implied in the Government’s 2016 regulation and to additional work required to reconstruct the foundation of the land due to a number of land-slides occurred during the rainy season, however related main construction work were 95% completed by year end of 2017 containing a 2,000 head capacity cattle farm built and pending on the completion of the installation of associated plants and equipment, accessories and operational fittings and other necessities, it will be ready for stocking of cattle for rearing and fattening operation targeting to be within 2018. In this respect, the Company is recruiting and selecting the right management team specializing in the growing of the selected native breed cattle (namely the “ Asian Yellow Cattle, ” or “ AYC ”) in readiness to start-up the operation. The AYC are mainly found in Guangxi district and grown in free range conditions by small farms such that our initial stocking up to 2000 heads is rather significant in comparison that really needs a good management team to carry out its operation efficiently. The Company cultivated 75 acres of its land, situated below the fertilizer factory, and planted a high yielded pasture that have been developed in our Cattle Farm 1 in Enping District harvesting up to 200 MT/acre/year for the past year that has been proven as quality livestock feed suitable to the growing and fattening of AYC. The pasture will be harvested from the said 75 acres are the main bulk livestock feed fed to the AYC that will be sufficient for the growing of 2000 heads of AYC per year starting from 2018. In term, the plan is that; the cattle’s liquid waste will be used to fertilize the pasture field and the cattle’s solid waste will be used as raw materials by the fertilizer factory such that all wastes will be recycled, which we refer to as the AYC development project.

However this AYC development plan was disrupted and put on hold during mid-year of 2018 when the Government imposed an additional environmental regulation requiring the construction of a mash gas plant before the permit of the cattle farm could be issued. Although the Mash gas plant will be paid by the Government under subsidization program currently available to the project, it will take a further 12 months or more for construction, such that the Company decided to lease out the AYC development project’s property situated on land of 25 Mu to an unrelated third party whilst the Company evaluates other business opportunities and options that may allow better financial returns to the Company in the meantime.

HSA produced over 50,000 MT of organic fertilizer and organic mixed fertilizer in 2016, which was reduced to 24,448 Mt in 2018 (a decrease of 59.25%) primarily due to (i) the production of the fertilizer in HSA being affected in the second half of 2017 by the ongoing construction work of cattle station during the year and (ii) the retrofitting of the fertilizer plant to accommodate the application of cattle waste as the main source of raw material versus chicken waste as its main product source. By Q4 2017, HSA’s production lines were back to online. Organic Fertilizer generated sales of 15,105 MT in 2018 from 15,334 MT sold in 2017. Organic Mixed Fertilizer, generated sales of 14,638 MT in 2018 from 9,042 MT sold in 2017.

Cattle farms (MEIJI) division

The business division Cattle Farms, or MEIJI, refers to SIAF’s cattle rearing operations in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province. Revenue for fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 was $29.56 million, or 29.96%, of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of USD 141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for the Cattle Farm (MEIJI) division for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was $4.29 million, or 19.81% percent of the Company’s total gross profit on sales of goods of $21.65 million in the same period.

Currently there are two operations in this segment, Cattle Farm 1 and Cattle Farm 2.

Cattle Farm 1: Cattle Farm 1 was built as a demonstration farm to show that cattle can be raised in a semi-tropical climate using the Company’s semi-grazing and housing method. Using the Company’s semi-free growing management system, the cattle are allowed to graze in the field during the early morning and kept indoors and out of the sun during the hot summer days. This method has proven reliable, with the growth rate of the cattle measuring slightly higher than the cattle at SJAP (i.e., averaging around 0.28 kg per day per cattle).

Cattle Farm 2: Cattle Farm 2 is a beef cattle farm situated in Guangdong Province, Guangzhou City. Cattle Farm 2 is operated by a private company formed in China with Chinese citizens acting as its legal representative as required by Chinese law. Cattle Farm 2 is complementary to Cattle Farm 1, having an additional 76 acres of land suitable for growing the Company’s type of pasture (a cross between elephant grass and yellow grass) that has a very high yield rate of over 35 MT per 1/6 acre per year, and containing an average of over 9 percent protein that is very suitable for consumption by cattle. Between the two farms, under normal seasons, they have a capacity to produce up to 30,000 MT of pasture/year collectively that is capable to feed up to 5,000 head of cattle/year based on the consumption rate on average of 6 MT/head.

MEIJI is the marketing and distribution agent for all cattle farms that have been and will be developed by MEIJI using its “Semi-free growing” management systems and aromatic-feed programs and systems to grow beef cattle.

Similar to CA in its business model, MEIJI purchases fully-grown cattle from Cattle Farm 1 and sells them to the cattle wholesalers. MEIJI also buys young cattle from other farmers and sells the young stock to Cattle Farm 1. All cattle farms developed by MEIJI will utilize its “semi-free growing” management system and aromatic-feed programs and systems (which is a feeding program with special selected Chinese herbs to improve the health of the cattle to avoid the use of antibiotics) to raise beef cattle, such that cattle raised under this program have a distinct aromatic flavor sought by many restaurants in the Guangdong Provinces.

AYC is traditionally a high-end market in China, as it is mainly sold in higher end markets (i.e. its 2016/2017 average of wholesale price was between RMB70 to RMB78/kg (live weight) while the average of other (western origin breed beef) cattle like Angus, etc. was between RMB36 to RMB 48/kg (live weight). We are anticipating that the AYC situation is rapidly changing, though, owing to urbanization and rising incomes, the rising demand for such quality beef, such that we foresee that eventually, locally grown and produced high quality beef from local breeds like the AYC will establish its “Brand” and market niche, returning premium prices in China similar to how many locally bred Japanese Cattle found their market niches in Japan that are not be affected by the supplies of imported beef.

Initially (as demonstration farms) these farms were going smoothly rearing and fattening mainly the western origin beef cattle (“ WOBC ”) breeds (i.e. Angus and/or Simmental) similar to cattle fattened at SJAP until the adverse impact caused by said relaxed importation of cattle from other countries that reduced the activity of the fattened WOBC and to grow more AYC. However, although the domestic prices of the AYC were not being affected by the imports, they do have much lower growth rates due to their small stature and in turn reduces these farms’ sales revenues based on volume yet make up the difference on their return on gross profit as evidenced in 2018 for gross profit of $4.29 million derived from sales of $29.56 million when compared to 2016 for gross profit of $1.54 million derived from sales of $29.84 million of WOBC.

Presently, these farms are carrying on with the growing and fattening mainly AYC.

Plantation (JHST) division

The business division Plantation refers to SIAF’s produce production, situated at Enping City, Guangdong Province. Revenue for 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was $3.61 million or 2.56% of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of $141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for the plantation division for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was $0.52 million, or 2.4% percent of the Company’s total gross profit for sales of goods of $21.65 million in the same period.

JHST is an SFJVC that is 75% owned by SIAF consolidated as a subsidiary, and is the owner and operator of a Plantation where mainly Hylocereus Undatus, or Dragon Fruit, and cash crop vegetables, are grown.

Hylocereus Undatus is a cactus commonly referred to as dragon fruit. JHST conducts two main operations: (i) growth and sales of flowers that are consumed as vegetables in China, and (ii) drying and value added processing and sales of HU flower products (used in health-related soups and teas). JHST cultivates 187 acres of Hylocereus Undatus in the Guangdong Province.

HU cacti take three years to reach maturity, though they will flower a little even in their first year, and can produce for as long as twenty years. JHST began planting in late 2007, and by 2015 all of the plants are mature (averaging over four years). HU blooms for a very short period, sometimes only one night, and flowers must be 20 to 25 cm long when picked before they turn from green to white. HU is a delicate crop and the harvest season runs from July through October.

Small amount of fresh flowers are sold to regional wholesale and retail markets due to their short shelf life and most of the flowers are dried and packed; these flowers are sold to a few major wholesalers, who distribute them to wholesale and retail markets and export traders through the winter and spring months (from October to June) in Guangdong Province. HU is a seasonal revenue product; more than half of JHST’s revenues are recognized in the third quarter. No sales are made in the first quarter.

The Company originally expected that by 2014, dried and pickled flowers would make up 96 percent of the division’s flower income as produce is diverted away from delicate fresh flowers. In 2013, the Company also planted a special selenium-rich Chinese herb (called XueYingZi, or “Immortal Vegetable” in China and Snowsakurako in Japan) and tried many treatment methods hoping to prolong the shelf life of the fresh flowers from 2-3 days up to 12-14 days aiming to increase the sales of fresh flowers. This experimentation had not produced the desired outcome; thus the Company instead has processed up to 80 percent of HU as dried flowers from 2013, onward.

HU flowers are in greater demand than supply can meet for several reasons; (i) In Guangdong Province, HU plants can only be grown commercially along certain districts; there were over 40,000 acres of HU Plantation in 2005, but due to the growth of industrialization and modernization, acreage is now less than 4,000 acres, and (ii) farm laborers are getting harder to find. With the increase of cost of wages and salaries, the rapid rise of the land cost and the increase cost of farm developments, it is extremely difficult to start up a big acreage HU plantation. For these reasons the Company anticipates that prices of dried HU flowers will enjoy a steady rise at an average rate of 8 to 12 percent per year, which has been the trend since 2009. However, the biggest risk to yield is weather, as substantially wet rainy seasons can limit the yield of any harvest and damage their roots in term inducing diseases to the plants.

Our plantation experienced very heavy wet seasons for more than 4-5 years (2013 to 2017) requiring the Company to combat and treat diseases and related problems continuously during the period, but by 2017 had exhausted all various means to recover and to revitalize the HU plantation. With continued wet conditions experienced over the past years, damage to the soil and plant roots has increased disease problems to the HU plantation affecting its overall yield as well as quality of harvested flowers Even though new plants were being planted each year increasing the area of planting by over 900 Mu to a total of over 1700 Mu with the intent to increase productivity, proportionately, the outcome has fell well short of intended results. Furthermore, poor soil and weather conditions adversely affected the quality of the HU flowers products which caused a significant drop in selling prices (i.e., there was no sales of the fresh HU flowers decreased in 2018 while that of dried HU flowers decreased from $5.19/kg in 2017 to $4.93/kg in 2018). At the same time, the regional farmers suffered the same fate that we could not buy enough fresh flowers from them to dry to maintain the sales of dried flowers. Therefore, due to deteriorating conditions recurring in the HU sector, the Company is reviewing the following options with the hope to remedy the situation.

One of the plans of JHST was to plant other cash crops to provide an alternative source of income for the plantation. Immortal Vegetable (IV) plants have properties that some believe induce good health. The Company has processed these into small herbal tea bags - selling them as organic herbal health tea. Laboratory test results show that each kilo of fresh Immortal Vegetables contains 0.58 gram of selenium, which adds value to their sales. As of the 2015 season there were 70 Mu designated for growing immortal vegetables on the plantation, however sales of this products did not reach targeted levels such that in 2017 the Company maintained only a small plot of about 10 Mu for growing IV. We did not sell any dried IV tea in 2017, but we kept over 20,000 Kg dried IV tea in inventory planning to relaunch its sales by one of the country’s top e-commerce operators in 2018 that will involve (a) Repackaging the products by a well-known and reputable health food processor and promoter into three separate and different health products with each product reflecting its own health property instead of an all-in-one application like had been, previously, (b) To promote the product under one of China’s best brand names of health herbal products. Our herbal health tea products (“ HHTP ”) have been accepted by one of their franchisees during March 2018, and, as such, we are working on trials with the processor over the coming months to start launching the HHTP onto an e-commerce platform targeting Q3 2018 depending on the successful outcome of the trials to meet various marketing markers, satisfactorily. If HHTP is launched successfully, there is good potential for JHST’s plantation to generate sustainable high sales revenues and profit from 2018 onward because the IV are very durable plants with strong disease resistant characteristics having good growth rates producing 5 yields per year (average of 50 MT of fresh produce/acre/year) at a reasonable cost of production averaging at RMB1000/MT or the equivalent of RMB 50,000/acre. Practically speaking, the whole plant (that is, the flowers, leaves, sterns and roots) can be dried into the HHTP averaging 5 MT of HHTP/acre/year. We are targeting to plant about 15 acres in year 1 (starting from Q3 2018) to process into 75 MT of HHTP to generate direct farm sales (excluding marketing and other associated sales revenue and costs, etc.) up to RMB45 million/year 1 (or the equivalent of $7.2 million) at about a 70% gross profit margin. If successful, it will enhance revenue and profit by more than 200% of JHST’s annual sales revenue and gross profit generated in FY2018.

In March 2018, JHST signed two growing contracts that have stable pricing conditions: (1). With a herbal plant oil processor to grow 50 acres of plants called “Pogestemon Patchouli” (“ PP ”) for processing into a type of natural aromatic oil that has experienced a good market in China. 50 acres of trial will be run this year but can be expanded to 150 acres next year if proven successful. It is estimated that the 50 acres of PP will generate sales revenues over $1 million with 50% gross profit margins based on two harvests for the year 2018; and (2). To grow 200 acres of Passion Fruit for a Juice Manufacturer from 2018 to 2020 for 3 years initially estimated to produce around 2,400 MT of fruit/year contracted at RMB 8,000/MT (or $1,280/MT) to generate over $3 million in sales revenue. The combination of both fruits and PP will enhance revenue and gross profit to JHST that again will exceed its performance of FY2018, if their outcomes prove successful.

Unfortunately the typhoon during Q3 2018 has destroyed much of the winter cash crops, which reduced JHST’s performances in Q4 2018 and in turn reduced 2018’s annual revenue and incomes by 22% and 62.5% respectively compared to 2017. At the same time the typhoon also destroyed the newly planted herbal PP plants and the passion fruit trees delaying their development. Currently as at the beginning of Q2 2019, management of JHST is still evaluating JHST’s overall prospects yet it has not yet come up with any conclusive plans needed for JHST.

Marketing & Trading Division

Revenue for 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was $68.45 million or 48.5% of the Company’s total sales of goods revenue of $141.67 million in the same period. Gross profit for the plantation division for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 was $7.18 million, or 33.16% of the Company’s total gross profit for sales of goods $21.65 million in the same period.

The Company distributes imported meat and seafood through two completed and operational facilities from which it has acted as turnkey project developer to construct and to provide supervision to these operations:

In 2013, the Company also constructed a trading complex (the “Trading Center”) for the Import and Export at another building adjacent to Wholesale Centers 1 and 2. The Trading Center has imported frozen and fresh chilled and live seafood (i.e., cuttlefish, squid, prawns, salmon, crabs and eels) from Malaysia, Thailand, Russia and Madagascar and other local coastal fishing towns. The seafood was sold to Wholesale Center 1, which distributed and sold it into various reputable food chain outlets, wholesale market stores and supermarket chains in the Guangzhou City, Shanghai City as well as in the southern coastal towns of the Guangdong Province.

Primarily, the Company distributes meat imported from Australia and seafood from other countries through these operations under their import and export permits conditioned under the China Government’s regulations.

We believe this division has excellent growth potential due mainly to the needs of import foods in China, but the sales of this division is limited mainly by “insufficient working capital” to really drive up the sales’ turn over. For instance the company’s average of gross profit of import trade is at 10.5% (derived from average of 12.5% in mark-up) for selling the imported goods to its sales agencies to distribute in China when the total working capital(WC) needs for the 1 ^st month’s import and the subsequent 2 ^nd months import calculated to about 4 months’ “good-sold” when considering that it will require 2 months times to complete one cycle of the monthly import allowing time provided for “ordering, shipping, custom clearance, good inspection, discharging & local transportation, storing and selling time etc. and another 2 months for subsequent month’s import totaling to 4 months. As such, if the Company wants to generate $120 million in sales in one year it will require WC of about $40 million (or 33.3%) to be locked up month after month continuously during the year whilst the Company did not have $40 million in WC in the past or currently for that purpose, such that it could only build up sales of this division gradually pending on the availability of working capital from time to time.

Over the years this division has developed many reliable suppliers and supplied sources that are supplying quality foods to our trust-worthy customers / agencies. Therefore it is within reason to assume that this division will eventually become an effective and major revenue drive of the group once when some of the financing plans will have materialized to allow more working capital being employed in the division.

Overall in 2018 this division achieved average gross profit margins of 11% for the trading of seafood and 10% on the trading of beef from selling imported goods to its sales agencies to distribute in China based on an averaged mark-up of 12.5% on cost of goods sold excluding the cost of import duties, value added taxes and local associated charges etc. that were paid by respective agencies. This kind of gross profit margin will be increased when the Company will be in the financial position to afford to buy directly from the fishermen and to sub-contract the value added processors to process the seafood directly.

Project Development Division

The project developments (or Technology engineering consulting and services) work are carried out by CA on aquaculture related projects and by SIAF on non-aquaculture projects:

Introduction

The Project Development division earns revenue by providing turnkey project management and engineering services today mainly within aquaculture. Project development revenue for 12 months ended December 31, 2017 was $16.99 million or 8.57% of the Company’s total revenue of $198.17 million (derived collectively from $181.12 million in Sales of goods and Project Development of $16.99 million) in the same period. Gross profit for project development for the 12 months ended December 31,2018 was $3.42 million or 17.42% of the Company’s total gross profit of $19.63 million (derived collectively from $16.21 million of Sales of goods and Project development of $3.42 million) in the same period. All project development activity for the year was carried out through Capital Award for its unconsolidated investee, Tri-way.

Historical events:

Historical Information and status of CA’s consulting and engineering service are shown in the table below:

Together with its subsidiaries, the Company essentially constitutes an engineering company providing services in engineering consultancy, supervision and management on the development of agriculture and food based projects in China. These include the construction of farms (or other facilities) as well as the development of business operations of related projects that are apply and use the Company’s principal technologies, including the following:

CA’s standard principal terms and conditions for its Aquaculture project development consulting and service contracts are outlined below:

The Company’s services are comprehensively supportive with vertically integrated operational activities to provide service for the construction of and the business development of the projects to joint ventures. Consulting services include research and development on grown and growing animals, supply of foundation animals (baby calves, fingerling and breeding stocks etc.), supplying designed and configured plants and equipment to the marketing and sales of the end product.

Aquaculture Project Development

Engineering consulting and services provide a comprehensive range of services in the field of aquaculture. These include research and development, brood stock supply, nurturing of fish fingerlings and prawn post-larvae as well as growing of fish and prawns, engineering designs and planning of farms and associated operations, technology and related implementation, supervision, training and conducting trials, management of farm operation and construction, supply of plants and equipment, training of maintenance and operational services, sales, transportation and marketing of fish and prawns, as well as financing. The Company’s management team and staff in Guangzhou conduct the engineering and consulting work. The Company directs the scope of work so that building subcontractors deliver projects efficiently and cost effectively. Using locally manufactured equipment, parts and components customized to the Company’s proprietary designs and engineering specifications, production costs for machinery and facilities are far lower compared to foreign aquaculture systems. The Company believes that it delivered the first indoor re-circulated aquaculture prawn farm in Asia.

From October 1, 2016, onward:

CA has granted to Tri-way a Technology Master License for China, such that starting from October 1, 2016, all future fishery project development in China using APM-RAS or ODRAS will be developed by Tri-way. CA has been hired by Tri-way as the Company’s turnkey contractor to provide consultation respective of Tri-way’s operations.

CA’s aim, in addition to providing quality service to Tri-way in China, is expecting to expand its reach to introduce and help implement its APM-RAS and ODRAS plant and equipment and services, worldwide.

2017 Research and development (R&D) works on technologies and associated future developments

The Mexican White Prawns (MWP)

During Q4 2017, CA started the construction and development of an indoor APM-RAS experimental farm (“ MWEF ”) at Enping’s Aqua-farm (1) (or FF1) for the growing of Mexican White prawns (“ MWP ”) which is a salt water spices of prawns grown mostly in China or other countries in open dams and channels that have access to sea water. However, due to the rapid growth of industrialization and the increase of prawn growing farms over the past years, pollution has been affecting the quality of sea water in terms of increasing diseases and other associated problems to the MWP industry, thus, reducing the economic viability of the prawn industry by reducing its productivity. The aim of the MWEF is to achieve the growing of MWP economically and commercially in stable environmental conditions supported by economic sustainability so that they can be developed at a lower capital expenditure and returning on capital investments within a reasonable period of time (targeting within 18 to 24 months).

Our teams (including some newly recruited technicians and experts) are working diligently on the project having already overcome various problems in construction and associated preparation work on growing MWP, expecting to stock prawn fingerling (PL7days) within the 1 ^st week in April 2018 and if all goes according to plan, are anticipating harvests to begin taking place 7 weeks later (beginning of June 2018) for the smaller sized prawns (i.e. 50/60 pieces/Kg) and final harvest on or before end of June for the larger sized prawns (i.e. 20/25 pieces/Kg). This MWEF is being constructed on a 1000 m2 surface area that has 4 grow-out tanks (to contain 480 m3 of water, collectively) with each tank to have 120m3 of water that is being recycled and serviced by 2 tanks (each of 25m3) that have inbuilt filtration and water treatment systems aiming to produce 3Kg of small sized prawns/m3 of water within 7 weeks and 6Kg/m3 of larger sized prawns within 10 weeks. This production aims to enhance harvests by approximately 3,000 Kg (or 3 MT) per harvest (15 MT/year) of larger sized prawns based on 5 harvests per year. In 2017, the average of wholesale prices of (MWP) prawns is RMB50/kg for small sized prawn and RMB150/Kg for larger sizes. This will mean that there will be RMB2.25 million sales revenues generated per year per 1,000 m2 of developed floor area. We are optimistic to achieve this milestone of securing sound fundamentals for the growing MWP in high salinity water in China under our APRAS system. Up to the end December 2018, at AF1 we had conducted 5 trials in growing MWP in high salinity water (up to 26/1000) with mixed results. We had three trials associated with high mortality, low yield and disease problems, one trial affected by heavy minerals in the water and the final trial with good results where 85% of MWP reached an average body weight of 25 gram per piece during a grow-out period of 100 days from 10 days old where the quality of the MWP were excellent and had a great natural taste.

Although the final trial’s result was encouraging, the Company’s desire to develop and construct a production plant on 100 Mu of land next to AF1 using green-house construction systems has been put on temporary hold until such time that the Company improves its cash-flow.

During 2017, the Aqua-farm (4) (“ AF4 ”) at the Mega Farm Project tried to grow multiple batches of Fresh Water Prawns (“ BJP ”) in commercial quantity (i.e. stocked over 1 million fingerling (of PL24 days) per APM tank of 200m3 of water to nurture the fingerling up to 54 days old supported with 4 other APM tanks for further grow-out up to 18 weeks old) but did not obtain optimal results mainly due to the BJP having not reached their desired size on schedule, with the majority of them not showing any further growth occurring after week 12. As such, AF 4 had to alter its plan of growing mainly BJP to growing fish (i.e. Jade Perch, Silver cods and other mixed fish) within some of the APM tanks in order to maintain a certain level of productivity at the farm. In conjunction with this exercise, AF4 had to develop 800 Mu of open dams (“ ODRAS ”) that were built using CA’s 2nd generation open dam recirculating aquaculture systems) to grow fish to certain sizes before they were transferred to the indoor APM farm for final grow-out, and allow the transfer of the 12 week old BJP grown in the indoor APM tanks to be moved to the ODRAS dams for further grow-out in a larger area.

Also, in Q3 2017, AF4’s ODRAS open dams suffered damage to its temporary built properties (i.e. the staff quarters, offices, laboratory, etc.) as well as use of AF4, itself, losing many fish and prawns stocked in the open ODRAS dams by one of the strongest typhoons in the past decade hitting the Mega Farm property and other areas of the southern coast of Guangdong Province. Although there was no structural damage done to the main APM farm buildings the damage had interrupted production until repairs were performed to both the APM tanks and ODRAS dams for the transfer of the prawn and fish, and, as such, AF4 decided in Q4 2017 to slow down its grow-out activities until after the Chinese New Year (ended end of February 2018) and in the interim to concentrate on its research and development work on the grow-out of BJP in the APM tanks aiming to find a solution to improve the growth rates and grow-out sizes of BJP to 18-weeks. Research will be focused on system design and water quality limitations. Progress is being made to improve in-tank water chemical and physical characteristics, and source water mineral composition for prawn growth. In addition, progress has been made to understand and manipulate in-tank bacterial populations to create a healthier overall rearing environment. During the first quarter of 2018, research will also assess the biological and economic feasibility of all-female and all-male populations of prawns, using patented endocrine disruptor technologies from third-party collaborators. Such non-GMO technologies result in overall faster and more uniform growth of cohorts compared to mixed populations of both males and females.  

In fact, the operation of AF4 (Production factory 1), the operation of AF5 (Production factory 2) and the open dams at the Mega Farm Project had a poor start and performed badly in 2017. During the first half of 2018, we incurred debts over RMB 30 million due the followings events and reasons:

(i). Unsuccessful management coordination resulting in low productivity and sales of products.

(ii). Over spending on capital expenditure on Phase (1) of the Mega Farm Project which exceeded the original budget of US$50 million by more than 60%.

(iii). AP4 and AP5 are the biggest AP farms that the Company built and the Company did not have a sufficient management team to support their production operations; most of the newly recruited APM farm management personnel & workers did not have the knowledge and experience with the APRAS technology and systems and as a result, there were many mistakes made during their learning curve affecting the farms’ production.

(iv). The two APM farms are the biggest indoor farms that we have ever built, and we didn't have enough experienced personnel to support their operation; and managers of other smaller sized APM farms could not work with the Mega Farm’s top management or his team under his management.

(v). The production operation of the AF4 and AF5 started prematurely before all the completion of their construction & development works leading to the situation that, at times, the property management team of the Mega Farm Project gave direction to the farm production operation teams resulting in wrong decisions that caused many mistakes.

(vi). Guangzhou experienced a very hot summary in 2017 that killed and retarded many stocks in the open dams and one of the big typhoons during August 2017 caused flooding that washed away hundreds of tons of fish and prawns in the open dams that would have been ready for harvest in September & October of 2017. Also, the extremely strong Typhoon in September 2018 caused power stoppage that killed hundreds of tons of stock including some valuable brood stock.

The revitalization plan has the following basic fundamentals:

Essentially, the current Mega Farm Project has two major divisions: (i) the Property Management division and (ii) the Production division:

At AF4 (Factory 1)

At AF5 (Factory 2)

At the end of December 2018, the early winter of the Guangdong districts slowed down the revitalization programs planned for AF4 and AF5 due primarily to the external supporting facilities (i.e. water holding dams, waste water treatment dams, external disinfection tanks and proper heating facilities etc.) were not completed. As such, the revitalization plan of these two farms will be delayed until such time as the supporting facilities are completed and working efficiently. In the meantime, operations on a small scale are being carried out in both AF4 and AF5 with the aim of slowly recruiting the right personnel to move ahead after the spring of 2019.

During Q1 2017 CA acted as the turnkey contractor to Tri-way’s Aqua-Farm 3 (formerly, PF2) helping it complete the construction and development of a 150 Mu open dam farm (with effective production dams totaled to 90 Mu) using its 3 ^rd generation ODRAS technology and system (ODRAS (3G) Farm 1) at a sea-shore property in YangJiang district of Guangdong Province (the “ YangJiang Farm ”) to grow Mexican White Prawns (MWP). This farm started operation in Q2 2017 and by the end of Q4 2017, it produced over a 9 month-period a total of 600 MT of small to large sized MWP generating sales revenue of RMB7.2 million (or $1.152 million) representing an average yield of 6 MT/Mu/9 months/3 harvests (annually yielding 8 MT/Mu) on 100 Mu of net-effective grow-out areas. This farm was operating smoothly in 2018; however, its productivity was not as high as anticipated (i.e. current figures show 5 MT/Mu/year instead of the planned 8 MT/Mu/year). This was due mainly to the inconsistent quality of the sea water over the year affecting the growing conditions in the open dams; as a result, we could not restock at the planned frequencies thereby reducing the productiveness of the farm.

On December 2017, CA also acted as a turnkey contractor to AF3 starting the construction and development of ODRAS (3G) Farm 2 on 186 Mu of land located opposite to AF3’s old open dam farm’s property at Shenwan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. ODRAS (3G) farm (2) is expecting to start production operation within April 2018 targeting annual production to exceed 1000 MT (annually yielding 8 MT/Mu) on net-effective grow-out area of 130 Mu. Up to date the farm is doing better than Yangjiang farm and on target (to get 8 MT/Mu/Year) judging on its harvest during Q2 2018 due to its location where there are good sources of water underground for supply of both salt and fresh water.

AF3’s old open dam farm’s property located at Shenwan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province was originally 390 Mu that had been expanded to 600 Mu in 2016 and among which 350 Mu are still operating on its old ODRAS systems, wherein 250 Mu was retrofitted into ODRAS (2G) using CA’s 2 ^nd generation ODRAS technology and systems, starting production in Q2 2017. It is the intension of Tri-way to retrofit the original 350 mu farm into ODRAS (3G) within 2019, again dependent on when Tri-way will secure long-term financing. Up to date AF3 didn’t retrofit the 350 Mu due to limited funds allocated for capital expenditures such that these dams were stocked with mixed fish (i.e. mainly fresh water Carp species and other low priced fish with constant demands and stable prices).

At the same time since 2017, CA has been servicing groups of farmers aiming to develop some of their properties (estimated over 600 Mu collectively) in nearby regional districts as well as over 400 Mu of land next to ODRAS (3G) farm (1). In so far only a fraction of the land (up to 200 Mu) has been developed in 2018.

During 2017, CA improved its designs in ODRAS (3G) technology to have more frequencies in water flows, smaller sized grow-out dams (i.e. average of 6 Mu per dam reduced to 2.5 Mu) that will reduce energy costs by having the dams covered by greenhouse designed structures shaded by trees in between to act as wind breakers and weather adjusters that we think will be very adaptable in southern China to grow both MWP and BJP. These ODRAS (3G) farms can be built at 1/3 of the price of the MWP Farm (1) mentioned earlier for approximately RMB700/m2.

Other Project Development (historical)

The Company has also, acting as a turnkey project developer, built 8 restaurants with central kitchen and bakery facilities in the greater Guangzhou area.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Company and its business are, to some extent, dependent on patents, licenses and other intellectual property rights. As of the date of this Annual Report, the Company holds intellectual property for fertilizer formulas, livestock feed fermenting formulas and indoor fish farm techniques. These include an enzyme technology master license registered under a Chinese patent for the manufacturing of livestock feed and bioorganic fertilizer, and an aromatic-feed formula technology for the production of aromatic cattle, and a bacterial cellulose technology license.

On 12 November 2008, Tri-way Industries Limited entered into a Sales and Purchase of Technology Master License Agreement with the inventor of a patent, Mr. Shan Dezhang, concerning the sale and purchase of the master license rights of a patent registered in China under the name of “Zhi Wu Jei Gan Si Liao Chan Ye Hua Ji Qi Zhi Bei Fang Fa”, with patent number ZL200510063039.9.

The patent relates to methods of processing plant straw into animal fodder and industrialization of product of plant straw fodder. Under the agreement, Tri-way Industries Limited is licensed to use and to license others to use the secrets, copyrights processes and other intellectual property rights associated with the patent in any territories in the world free from all encumbrances with all rights to the patented intellectual property and related brand and label as provided under the laws of China. The total purchase price of the patent was USD 8,000,000, to be paid in several installments. As Tri-way Industries Limited is not a Chinese company, relevant Chinese authorities must, under applicable Chinese law, approve the assignment. The patent assignment has not been registered. Consequently, under Chinese law, the patent shall not take priority over the interests of third parties who are in good faith.

On 15 May 2009, Tri-way Industries Limited (as licensor) entered into a sub-license agreement with SJAP (as licensee) concerning the sub-licensing of the above-mentioned patent (ZL200510063039.9). The license period is 50 years, and the annual license fee is stipulated at USD 450,000. However, as effective patent protection for the patent is 20 years, the excess part of the term is void under Chinese law. The contracting parties of the aforesaid sub-license agreement have never performed the terms of the said agreement and no payment has ever been made by the licensee to the licensor. The parties have no intention to perform the sub-license agreement, and the contracting parties have terminated the said agreement accordingly.

Rights to this technology has been transferred to HSA by SIAF after SIAF obtained it, as well as other assets, in exchange for assumed liabilities of Tri-way as a result of the carve-out.

On 20 June 2011, SJAP entered into an agreement with Guangzhou City Garwor Trading Company Limited, pursuant to which Guangzhou City Garwor Trading Company Limited transferred its trademarks with registration numbers, 3713869 and 3713868, as well as a microbial patent with patent number ZL200610033295.8. The total transfer fee for the trademarks and the patent was RMB 12 million and the transfer fee for the technology secrets was RMB 1 million. According to the said agreement, the transfer fees shall be paid by the interest generated from the utilization of the patent. Moreover, the said agreement stipulates that any new technology improvements of the invention shall belong to both parties, and that any resulting profits shall be shared equally. Guangzhou City Garwor Trading Company Limited is a shareholder in the transferee and therefore a related party. An evaluation report was not filed with the transaction. Although this is not a formal requirement under Chinese law and the contract is valid, this may lead to the contract being challenged in the future on the basis of unfairness. Moreover, as the transferor, Guangzhou City Garwor Trading Company Limited, is not the owner of the trademark, the said agreement is void under Chinese law and SJAP has therefore not obtained ownership of the aforementioned trademarks. This may be corrected if and when SJAP enters into an agreement with the trademark owner. If SJAP uses the trademark without prior consent of the trademark owner, this would constitute trademark infringement. However, SJAP is intending to write off said trademark, and does not intend to use the trademark in question.

Material Agreements

Joint Venture Agreements

The Company has two types of SFJVCs established under Chinese law:

Of the five Chinese joint venture project companies which are CJVs or EJVs, four are CJVs (JFD, JHMC, JHST and SJAP) and one is an EJV (HSA). ²

The main difference between an EJV and a CJV is that in a CJV, the obligation of capital contribution shall be determined by the contractual parties themselves. The proportions of capital contribution do not have to be fixed between the Chinese and foreign parties. Profit distribution and risk sharing ratio shall also be determined by the contracting parties themselves which do not have to be the same proportions as the parties’ capital contribution or shareholding therein. The capital contributing parties may specify their profit and risk sharing ratio only and may or may not specify their shareholdings in the CJV. One party may make capital contribution by way of non-monetary assets such as rights in lands, factories and machineries etc. while the other party may make capital contribution by way of cash.

In an EJV, the shareholders contribute capital and operate business jointly, and share profits, risks and losses in proportion to their equity contributions. Foreign investor’s capital contribution shall not be less than 25 percent of the total registered capital.

The Company engages in projects based on consulting and service agreements (as described under “Consulting and Services Agreements” below), whereby the Company can choose whether the cooperation shall continue under a consulting and service agreement or be acquired by the Company.

Consulting and Services Agreement

Consulting and service (“ C&S ”) agreements are important for the operation of the Company’s subsidiaries and partners. Only the Company’s subsidiaries SJAP and HSA do not and have not operated under C&S agreements.

Initially, agriculture and aquaculture investors invite the Company to act as a developer and project manager of an agribusiness or food-related project. If the management of the Company sees the proposal as interesting, the Company carries out an in-depth study of the target company including legal due diligence, business plan, budget and projected financial information. The Company makes the decision through a resolution of the Board of Directors. If the Company determines to proceed, the Chinese investor forms a private Chinese company dedicated to the project and the parties sign a C&S agreement.

The Company acts as the project manager providing turnkey services to the Chinese developer of the project, meaning that the Company builds the project using its technology, systems, know-how, and management expertise and systems. As such, the Company’s expenditure in the project includes the Company’s own administration and operational expenses provided for and incurred in the project (charged and recorded under the Company’s general and administrative operation expenses), which are billed to the Chinese developer. All other development expenditures (inclusive of the Company’s subcontractors’ and sub-suppliers’ costs and the Company’s marked up profits) are billed to the Chinese developer who will pay accordingly.

When the C&S Project Company initiates production the Company acts as the sole marketer of food products and as the supplier for the C&S Project Company under the terms and conditions of the C&S agreement. The Company acts as the selling supplier and buying wholesaler to the company supplying items such as feed, young cattle, and RAS technological components and buys mature prawns, sleepy cod, eels and live cattle. The Company earns a gross profit of between 10-15% based on the C&S Project Company’s revenue on this exclusivity.

The C&S Project Company will remain wholly-owned by the Chinese developer until the Company exercises the acquisition option and subsequently converts the company into an SFJVC where the Chinese investor remains as a minority shareholder. The acquisition price is normally determined in accordance with the book value of the Chinese company as of the acquisition date. Consideration will normally consist partly of cash and partly of project loans owed by the Chinese investor, which offset and decrease the purchase proceeds in the corresponding amount. Generally, the agreements that the Company has entered into governing the formation of the unincorporated companies into SFJVCs do not regulate the maturity date for the formation of SFJVC. The date for the formation of the SFJVC is generally left to the discretion of the Company, based on the development and profitability of the relevant project.

² According to the official documents of the Company’s Chinese subsidiary JHMC, the registered capital of such subsidiary is USD 2 million that was paid in full by year ended 31 December 2014. As of the date of this Annual Report, MEIJI, a subsidiary of the Company, has contributed USD 400,000 of the subscribed capital, whereas USD 1.6 million of the subscribed capital has not been paid. Moreover, according to the official documents of the Company’s Chinese subsidiary HSA, the registered capital of such subsidiary is USD 2.5 million and shall be paid in full no later than 18 July 2013. As of the date of this Annual Report, MEIJI, a subsidiary of the Company, has contributed USD 865,000 of the subscribed capital, whereas USD 234,500 of the subscribed capital has not been paid by the Chinese owner. The aforementioned deadlines can be re-arranged by all the promoters. If no new deadline is agreed upon, failure by MEIJI to make full payment may lead to the other promoters making full payment of the capital contribution on MEIJI’s behalf and requesting MEIJI to compensate for their payment and losses.

As of the date of this Annual Report, the Company has entered into ten C&S agreements. A portion of the C&S agreements contain an acquisition premium clause, in which the accumulated C&S project development fees billed by the Company will be paid in addition to the equity book value at the time of acquisition. In the event that either of the investors decides to sell all or part of its equity in the SFJVC to any third party, a portion of the agreements require the selling investor to obtain prior consent of the other investor before such sale and to grant the right of first refusal to the other investor on the like terms for the intended sale.

As of October 1, 2016, when Tri-way became the developer and operator of all fishery C&S Projects formerly under SIAF, CA’s new role is one of turnkey operator appointed by and working on behalf of Tri-way.

Land leases

Private ownership of land is not permitted in China. Therefore, the Company leases land that is either collectively owned land or state owned land, through land use rights. Corporate entities and individuals may own the property (buildings) erected on the land.

Land use rights may be transferred, but they are based on agricultural contracts and cannot be changed arbitrarily to non-agricultural purposes. The lease term varies from 27 to 60 years. There are certain uncertainties (e.g., lease term may not exceed 30 years and all transfers have not yet been registered correctly) in respect of certain leased land due to the fact that not all requirements have been fulfilled or not yet registered. However, the Company believes it is protected against these uncertainties through its agreements with the relevant local Chinese partners and relevant registration processes have been initiated. The Company’s subsidiary HSA has acquired land use rights for state owned land located in OuChi Village, FengHuo Town, LinLi County, Hunan Province. However, HSA has not obtained a land use right certificate for such land, which therefore, for the time being, cannot be lawfully mortgaged or transferred. Moreover, the Company’s subsidiary CA has entered into a Rural Land Management Rights Sub-Sales Agreement for the acquisition of the contractual operating and use rights of 202 mu of collective owned land located in Da San Dui Wei You Nan Village, Shenwan Town, Zhongshan City for a period of 30 years. However, the transfer procedures for the land in question have not been completed. CA is not an enterprise registered in mainland China and therefore, according to Chinese law, cannot acquire the contractual operating and use rights of collective owned land. The Company is currently negotiating with Beijing Hengxintianyi Investment Guarantee Co. Ltd. to designate a subsidiary of the Company in China for the purpose of entering into a new Rural Land Management Rights Sub-Sales Agreement.

License Rights

Through the past 10 years (from 2007 to present) the Company has improved and modified the Recirculating Aquaculture System (“ RAS ”) originally pioneered in Germany into a unique system designed for indoor systems referred to as A Power Module (“ APM indoor ”) and an outdoor module called open dam RAS (“ ODRAS ”). We provide two types of licenses under this technology namely, a Developer License permitting a fishery project license to utilize the technology in its design of the APM indoor or ODRAS farms, and an Operator license permitting the use of APM-indoor or ODRAS technology at their respective farms. Each license is granted a 50-year term per assigned module unit for a one-time fee of $50,000 per license, that is a $50,000 fee for rights to the Developer license and a $50,000 fee for rights to the Operator license for 50 years per developed module.

On November 12, 2008, the Company’s subsidiary TRW entered into an agreement with the inventor of a patent, Mr. Shan Dezhang, concerning the sale and purchase of the master license rights of a patent registered in China with patent number ZL200510063039.9.

On May 15, 2009, Tri-way (as licensor) entered into a sub-license agreement with SJAP (as licensee) concerning the sub-licensing of the above-mentioned patent (ZL200510063039.9). For further information on the aforementioned agreements, please refer to the section entitled “Intellectual Property Rights” above.

Carve-outs

The Company has announced that it has begun the first of three or four contemplated divestitures. The Company is currently exploring various opportunities for reorganizing or restructuring some of its current assets into new companies by means of mergers and/or acquisitions with the aim to establish higher independent fair market values for said companies (or respective related assets) by either listing each of said companies on a suitable stock exchange or selling them in a receptive market (or to a receptive buyer) The first carve-out (Tri-way) is comprised of aquaculture operations. The new company holds one single share class and shall conform to corporate governance standards assigned by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission as well as the potential Stock Exchange targeted for its listing. The Company’s aquaculture operations, namely the C&S Project farms are, as follows:

Establishing the proposed new company would in management’s view expedite the attainment of several of the Company’s strategic objectives:

As a result of the carve-out, Tri-way, as of October 1, 2016, is now categorized under SIAF as an investor in associate status from its original categorization as a SIAF subsidiary. Prior to the carve-out, Tri-way had assumed 100% holdings in JFD (previously, a 75% owned subsidiary) on August 16, 2016. Subsequently, Tri-way has merged/acquired in exchange for equity, all C&S farm projects and their respective assets.

Industry Overview

This section discusses the industry in which the Company operates. Certain of the information in this section relating to market environment, market developments, growth rates, market trends, industry trends, competition and similar information are estimates based on data compiled by professional organizations, consultants and analysts, in addition to market data from other external and publicly available sources.

Economic outlook in China

China’s economy is at present second only to that of the United States. China's economy is expected to expand 6.2 percent in 2019 from 6.6 percent in 2018. Growth has slowed somewhat following government efforts to try and rein in high levels of debt. China has started feeling the effects of the trade war with the United States, which has resulted in new tariffs on more than $250 billion of Chinese exports. Based on the World Bank’s classification, China has had a remarkable period of rapid growth shifting from a centrally planned to a market based economy. Today, China is an upper middle-income country that has complex development needs.

Agriculture in China

Agriculture is a vital industry in China, employing over 300 million farmers. China ranks first in worldwide farm output, primarily producing rice, wheat, potatoes, tomato, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed and soybeans and also the largest consumer of many agricultural products, such as pork, rice and soybeans. Although accounting for only 10 percent of arable land worldwide, it produces food for 20 percent of the world's population. While China generally has been successful in meeting its rapidly rising demand for food and grains by increasing domestic production, it has emerged as a leading global importer of several agricultural commodities, including cotton, soybeans, vegetable oils, and animal hides. As its domestic agricultural production has grown, China has also become the largest exporter in global markets for several horticultural products, including mandarin oranges, apples, apple juice, garlic and other vegetables.

China’s increasingly important position in global agricultural markets followed decades of gradual growth in domestic food production and consumption. After the introduction of market-based reforms in 1978 that included the elimination of the collective production system and relaxation of government direction over certain farmer production and marketing decisions, Chinese agricultural output grew significantly. Between 1978 and 2008, China almost doubled its production of grains (rice, wheat and corn) and quadrupled its production of meats; the production of fruit and milk was about 30 times greater in 2008 than in 1978. During these three decades, population growth of about 1 percent annually, coupled with annual per capita income growth of eight percent, fueled a large increase in demand for more and higher-value agricultural products, especially by China’s large and growing middle class. China’s rapid growth in food consumption was largely met by domestic production growth, enabling it to remain self-sufficient in most major commodities.

³ OECD: PSE is defined as the estimated monetary value of transfers from consumers and taxpayers to farmers, expressed as a percentage of gross farm receipts (defined as the value of total farm production at farmgate prices), plus budgetary support.

China’s support for agriculture

China’s government support for agriculture is low compared to that of developed countries, such as the United States and European Union, but in line with that of other rapidly growing economies, according to USITC. As measured by the OECD’s PSE ³ , the amount of support provided to Chinese farmers was low (and sometimes negative) during the 1990’s, but gradually rose during the period 2008-2010. Compared with other countries at a similar level of development, including Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa, China’s support for farmers falls in the middle of the range. China’s PSE reflects changes in the central government’s policy priorities from grain self-sufficiency and low consumer prices toward a stronger focus on raising farm household incomes, according to USITC. Government support to China’s agricultural sector indicates that Chinese policymakers are placing a renewed emphasis on the rural economy. Indirect support, in the form of general services, is very high relative to similar support programs in other countries, due largely to investments in agricultural infrastructure. General services include modern research and extension services, food safety agencies, and agricultural price information services, most of which provide benefits to producers and consumers throughout the economy. Compared with direct payments to farmers, general services support is less production-distorting to the sector.

Agricultural consumption

China is a major global consumer of agricultural products. It consumes one-third of the world’s rice, one-fourth of all corn, and half of all pork and cotton, and it is the largest consumer of oilseeds and most edible oils. The traditional Chinese diet centers around staple foods (mainly grains and starches), which account for nearly half of the daily caloric intake. Average Chinese per capita consumption recently stabilized at approximately 3,000 calories per day, one of the highest levels among Asian countries.

Chinese food consumption is influenced by factors such as population size and demographics, income, food prices, and general preferences. Per capita income growth and urbanization are the two factors most responsible for altering recent consumption patterns in China. Rising income translates into higher per capita food consumption, while increasing urbanization is driving diversification of food choices because of greater availability and choice offered through increasingly diverse sales outlets.

Chinese consumers generally fall into one of three categories: rural consumers; urban low-income consumers; or urban high-income consumers. Although urban high-income consumers can afford to buy more and better-quality food, the ubiquity of food outlets in cities means that nearly every urban resident, regardless of income, has available an increasingly diverse food selection. Compared to rural diets, urban diets contain less grain and more non-staple items, including processed and convenience foods. Rural migrants to cities tend to adopt the urban diet.

Expenditure on food

Food is the largest class of household expenditure for all Chinese income groups; even housing takes a smaller share of average household income, according to USITC. As income rises, the absolute amount of food expenditure increases, although the share of income spent on food falls. Urban residents spend substantially more on food than their rural counterparts, according to USITC. Higher incomes lead to an increase in both the quantity and quality of food demanded. However, while demand for higher quantities of food appears to level off in the top income households, demand for higher-quality foods continues to rise with income.

The market for aquatic products and aquaculture in China

The information in this section regarding aquatic and aquaculture, including graphs, is taken from the USDA’s GAIN Report Number: CH12073 per 12/28/2012 unless otherwise stated. ⁴

Total Aquatic Products Production

China has the world’s largest aquatic production and its market share of the world’s fish production has risen from 7 percent in 1961 to 37 percent by 2012. China alone accounted for 62.5 percent of the aquaculture production in the world by volume in 2015. Aquaculture represents more than 71.9 percent of the total fish production in China. Total 2015 aquatic production in China increased 4.38 percent to reach 47.9 million tons, compared to the 45.8 million tons in 2014, per the FAO.

⁴ Definition of terms: China’s definition of aquatic products includes both cultured (farm-raised) and wild caught products; aquatic products include fish, shrimp/prawn/crab, shellfish, algae, and other. Aquatic catch production is total volume of both fresh and seawater wild caught aquatic products; Aquaculture production is the total volume of both fresh and seawater cultured (farmed) aquatic products. This report will use Chinese terminology to maintain consistency between Chinese statistics and product categories. Total aquatic trade statistics below do not include fishmeal.

Fish production accounts for 59 percent of the total aquatic production, followed by shellfish and crustaceans at 22.6 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Fish production is, according to the USDA, expected to continue its upward growth trend to reach 34.5 million tons in 2012, up from 33 million tons in 2011 and 31.3 million tons in 2010.

In 2011, Shandong, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces profited from favorable coastal locations and abundant freshwater resources/facilities to rank as the top four aquatic production areas. In terms of freshwater cultured production, Hubei, Guangdong, and Jiangsu provinces are the largest producers.

According to @2019 undercurrent news, China’s seafood imports increased by 44% to $12bn in 2018. In the twelve months to the end of December 2018, China imported CNY 787bn worth of seafood, according to Chinese customs data.

Aquaculture

The market for meat in China

China is by far the world’s largest producer and consumer of meat which includes pork, poultry and beef. Historically, this situation did not have a large impact on the rest of the world, as China, for the most part, maintained self-sufficiency in meat. However, since 2007 the situation has changed dramatically. China has gradually turned into a net importer of meats.

World meat production was 323 million tons in 2017. ⁵ Global trade in meat is projected to be 20% higher in 2027, representing a slowing down of meat trade growth to an annual average of 1.5% compared to 2.9% during the previous decade. ⁶ Meat imports into Asia account for 56% of global trade, and poultry will constitute more than half of this additional import demand. China’s meat production reached 86.60 million tons in 2018, where total meat production in the United States amounted to 47.06 million tons in 2018.

With strong economic growth and the improvement of living standards, the demand for beef in China is rising. ⁷ China’s animal feed market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 16% till 2019. ⁸

There are several other specific market drivers which underpin the increase in demand for red meat. One driver is the improved living standard in China which stimulates the growth of beef markets since beef often sells at a much higher price and traditionally has been more expensive than what most people can afford. Another is the fact that Chinese people’s dietary structure is becoming more diversified and reasonable, bringing larger amount of beef consumption since beef has nutritional benefits. Lastly, a gradual lowering of import taxes is likely to support sufficient supply of cattle.

Feed grain prices are projected to remain low during 2018-2027. The year 2017 was affected by numerous outbreaks of Avian Influenza (AI) around the world which resulted in a slower increase in world output. China, the second largest producer after the United States, was particularly affected by several outbreaks over the last years. Thus, China can expect a return to historical trend growth in poultry production from 2018 onwards. Globally, the share of meat output traded is expected to remain constant at around 10%, with most of the increase in volume coming from poultry meat. The projected production growth in developing countries remains insufficient to satisfy demand grown, particularly in Asia and Africa. As a result, import demand is expected to remain strong. ⁹

⁵ Review of Recirculation Aquaculture System Technologies and their Commercial Application, Stirling Aquaculture, Institute of Aquaculture.

⁶ Food Outlook, FAO, November 2018

⁷ Research Report on Beef Import in China, 2019-2023

⁸ China Animal Feed Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2019

⁹ Meat - OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027

Market drivers

The improvement of living standard stimulates the growth of beef markets:

Traditionally, Chinese people eat pork and chicken to satisfy their desire for meat. This is largely due to the much higher price of beef which goes beyond normal people’s affordable level. With the improvement of living standards, Chinese people have begun the upgrade of their consumption of meat, and began to eat more beef.

Chinese people’s dietary structure becomes more diversified and reasonable, bringing larger amount of beef consumption:

At present, Chinese people are changing their diet patterns to higher and richer nutrition. From a nutritional perspective, beef not only contains high unsaturated fatty acids and high protein, it also has low fat and lots of nutrition, which makes it perfect for the healthy diet. Thus, in the future, beef is expected to replace some parts of the market shares in pork, chicken and other meats. ¹⁰

The market for fertilizer in China

Sales of fertilizers are expected to be supported by healthy expansion of agricultural activities as the amount of sown areas continues to grow and rural income levels rise. Farmers will continue to register steadily increasing incomes, the result of growing crop prices and government subsidies designed to supplement their revenues and reduce their material costs. Subsidies aimed directly at cutting the cost of fertilizers is expected to encourage additional use. In addition, rising crop prices have encouraged farmers to invest in fertilizers to further boost crop yields. Advances will also be driven by increases in the acreage of sown land dedicated to growing cash crops. However, increasing demand for organic food and improved understanding of the correct application of fertilizers is expected to prevent demand from rising at a faster pace.

In value terms, fertilizer demand is expected to grow from over $195 billion in 2016 to over $245 billion in 2020. ¹¹ Faster value growth will be driven by strong demand for higher value multi-nutrient fertilizers. In addition, advances will be supported by continued growth in fertilizer prices as the cost of natural gas, oil, coal, and other raw materials continues to increase.

Demand for fertilizer nutrients in China is projected to grow 4.4 percent annually through 2015 to 98.1 million metric tons. Nutrient demand will be stimulated by increasing use of higher nutrient level products as income levels grow in rural areas in China. In addition, government efforts to promote multi-nutrient fertilizers will also support gains in fertilizer nutrient demand. Accounting for more than three-fourths of total fertilizer demand in 2010, single-nutrient fertilizers will remain the larger product type through 2015, despite a relatively low growth rate of 2.1 percent per year. Sales of single nutrient fertilizers will continue to be supported by their relatively low prices.

The size, growth and composition of fertilizer demand in the six regions that make up China vary considerably. The Central-South and Central-East will remain the two largest regional fertilizer markets. Due to the comparatively high income levels in the Central-South and Central-East - which enable residents to afford more expensive food items - demand for cash crops such as fruits and vegetables will rise in these regions, which in turn will fuel demand for fertilizer. Sales in the Northeast and Northwest regions will outpace the average through 2015, benefiting from the Great Western Development Strategy, the Northeast Revitalization Policy, and increasing income levels for farmers. ¹²

In 2006, the central government started a program intended to partially compensate farmers for price increases in fuel, fertilizer and other agricultural inputs. In the case of fertilizers, government support is part of several separate programs targeting fertilizer producers, with cost reductions being passed along to farmers purchasing the input.

Market for fruits and vegetables in China

The information in this section regarding the market for fruit in China is taken from the International Trade Center report “Overview of the markets for selected tropical fruits and vegetables in China” unless otherwise stated.

China is the biggest producer of fruit in the world, with a total of approximately 10,734,259 hectares of fruit planting area and a fruit output of approximately 192,202,000 tons as of 2008, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC. The per capita annual fruit consumption in China as of 2008 amounted 149 kilograms per capita, well above the global average of 69.09 kilograms per capita, according to FAO. In 2009, China exported 5,255,000 tons of fruit, an 8.5 percent year-on-year increase compared to the previous year, equivalent to a value USD 3.83 billion according to China Customs. The Chinese import of fruit in 2009 amounted to 2,309,000 tons, valued to USD 1.63 billion, a 37.0 percent increase year-on-year compared to 2008. This led to a fruit trade surplus of USD 2.2 billion, approximately a 27.6 percent decrease compared to 2008 according the Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC.

¹⁰ Frost & Sullivan: China’s beef market has great growth potential

¹¹ Fertilizer Market Global Report 2017, Business Research Company

¹² Fertilizers in China, Industry Study with Forecasts for 2015 & 2020, Freedonia Group; June 2012

The global tropical fruit output, where the dragon fruit (Hylocereus Undatus) is included, reached roughly 82,700,000 tons in 2008 according to FAO. The output was led by mango, followed by pineapple, guava and avocado. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC, tropical fruit accounted for approximately 25 percent of the total fruit planting area in China in 2009, equivalent to roughly 2,500,000 hectares providing a total output of more than 20,000,000 tons. The research adds that an additional 17,500,000 hectares spread over China is suitable for planting tropical fruits.

The most commonly consumed tropical fruits in China are pineapple, mango, banana, litchi, coconut, longan and cashew. However demand for, e.g., mangosteen, star fruit, durian and dragon fruit is quickly growing among the population in the first and second tier cities. The China Fruit Marketing Association estimates that the consumption of tropical fruits accounts for roughly 10 percent of all the fruit in China, equivalent to approximately 19,000,000 tons. Analysts estimate that about 80 percent of the tropical fruit in China is consumed fresh, contrary to canned or processed fruit.

Consumer trends

Consumers in the northern and central parts of China generally prefer more sweet tasting fruit, preferably tropical fruits. In the southern regions of China however, the population consumes a broader range of fruits. Overall in China, consumers have started to consume more fruit with distinctive smells, for example durian and jackfruit. During recent years there has been a significant increase in consumption of more expensive fruit, such as durian, mangosteen and jackfruit thanks to the increasing standard of living of the population as well as the increased availability of such imported fruits.

The most commonly consumed imported fruits in China include kiwi, durian, mangosteen, grapes, cherries and dragon fruit. Generally, the Chinese population prefers to consume fresh fruit; so when domestic, fresh fruit is available during summer, consumption of the fresher and cheaper domestic fruit increases. In winter, when domestic products cannot be harvested or sold, the import of fruits, and especially tropical fruits, increases immensely.

Organic fruits are mostly sold domestically in China and have become increasingly popular in the market; however, the supply is still relatively small and the price is still more expensive (approximately RMB 1-2 more expensive per kg).

GOVERNMENT REGULATION

Regulation of M&A and Overseas Listings

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce (the “ MOFCOM ”), the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation (“ SAT ”), the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (the “ SAIC ”), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“ CSRC ”), and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (the “ SAFE ”), jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors (the “ M&A Rules ”), which became effective on September 8, 2006 and was amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rules include provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle formed for purposes of the overseas listing of equity interests in PRC companies and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange.

On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published on its official Website procedures regarding its approval of overseas listings by special purpose vehicles. The CSRC approval procedures require the filing of a number of documents with the CSRC. The application of this new PRC regulation remains unclear, with no consensus currently existing among leading PRC law firms regarding the scope of the applicability of the CSRC approval requirement.

The M&A Rules also establish procedures and requirements that could make some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a Chinese domestic enterprise.

In February 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors (“ Circular 6 ”), which established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. In August 2011, the MOFCOM promulgated the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System (the “ MOFCOM Security Review Rules ”), to replace the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Matters Relating to the Implementation of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors promulgated by the MOFCOM in March 2011. The MOFCOM Security Review Rules, which came into effect on September 1, 2011, provide that the MOFCOM will look into the substance and actual impact of a transaction and prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions.

Regulation of Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution

The principal regulations governing foreign currency exchange in China are the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations (the “ FX Regulations ”), which were last amended in August 2008. Under the FX Regulations, the RMB is freely convertible for current account items, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for capital account items, such as direct investments, loans, repatriation of investments and investments in securities outside of China, unless the prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made. On August 29, 2008, the SAFE issued a notice, Circular 142, regulating the conversion by a foreign-invested company of foreign currency into RMB by restricting how the converted RMB may be used. Circular 142 requires that the registered capital of a foreign-invested company settled in RMB converted from foreign currencies may only be used for purposes within the business scope approved by the applicable governmental authority and may not be used for equity investments within the PRC. In addition, the SAFE increased its oversight of the flow and use of the registered capital of a foreign-invested company settled in RMB converted from foreign currencies. The use of such RMB capital may not be changed without the SAFE’s approval, and may not in any case be used to repay RMB loans if the proceeds of such loans have not been used. Violations of Circular 142 will result in severe penalties, such as heavy fines. As a result, Circular 142 may significantly limit our ability to transfer cash or other assets from The Company and/or our other non-PRC subsidiaries into our subsidiaries in the PRC, which may adversely affect our business expansion and we may not be able to convert the net proceeds into RMB to invest in or acquire any other PRC companies, or establish other variable interest entities (“ VIEs ”) in the PRC.

Dividends paid by a PRC subsidiary to its overseas shareholder are deemed income of the shareholder and are taxable in the PRC. Pursuant to the Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange (1996), foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC may purchase or remit foreign currency, subject to a cap approved by the SAFE, for settlement of current account transactions without the approval of the SAFE. Foreign currency transactions under the capital account are still subject to limitations and require approvals from, or registration with, the SAFE and other relevant PRC governmental authorities.

In October 2005, the SAFE promulgated the Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Corporate Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles (“ Circular 75 ”). Under Circular 75, which was issued by SAFE effective November 1, 2005, prior registration with the local SAFE branch is required for PRC residents to establish or to control an offshore company for the purposes of financing that offshore company with assets or equity interests in an onshore enterprise located in the PRC. An amendment to the registration or filing with the local SAFE branch by such PRC resident is also required for the injection of equity interests or assets of an onshore enterprise in the offshore company or overseas funds raised by such offshore company, or any other material change involving a change in the capital of the offshore company. Moreover, Circular 75 applies retroactively. As a result, PRC residents who, prior to November 1, 2005, had established or acquired control of offshore companies that had made onshore investments in the PRC prior to were required to complete the relevant registration procedures with the local SAFE branch by March 31, 2006.

Since May 2007, the SAFE has issued a series of guidance to its local branches with respect to the operational process for the SAFE registration under Circular 75. The guidance provides more specific and stringent supervision of the registration required by Circular 75. For example, the guidance imposes obligations on onshore subsidiaries of an offshore entity to make true and accurate statements to the local SAFE authorities regarding any shareholder or beneficial owner of the offshore entity who is a PRC citizen or resident. Untrue statements by the onshore subsidiaries will lead to potential liability for the subsidiaries and, in some instances, for their legal representatives and other related individuals.

Under the relevant rules, failure to comply with the registration procedures set forth in Circular 75 may result in restrictions being imposed on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant onshore company, including increases in its registered capital, payment of dividends and other distributions to its offshore parent or affiliate and capital inflows from the offshore entity, and may also subject relevant PRC residents to penalties under PRC foreign exchange administration regulations. PRC residents who control our company from time to time are required to register with the SAFE in connection with their investments in us.

On December 25, 2006, the People’s Bank of China (the “ PBOC ”) issued the Administration Measures on Individual Foreign Exchange Control and related Implementation Rules were issued by the SAFE on January 5, 2007. Both became effective on February 1, 2007. Under these regulations, all foreign exchange transactions involving an employee share incentive plan, share option plan, or similar plan participated in by onshore individuals may be conducted only with approval from the SAFE or its authorized branch. Under the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company (“ Offshore Share Incentives Rules ”), which was issued by the SAFE on February 15, 2012, PRC citizens who are granted share options, restricted share units or restricted shares by an overseas publicly listed company are required to register with the SAFE or its authorized branch and to comply with a series of other requirements. If we, or the PRC employees of ours who hold options, restricted share units or restricted shares fail to comply with these registration or other procedural requirements, we, and/or such employees may be subject to fines and other legal sanctions.

The principal regulations governing distribution of dividends of foreign holding companies include the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law (1986), which was amended in October 2000, and the Administrative Rules under the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law (2001). Under these regulations, foreign investment enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, foreign investment enterprises in China are required to allocate at least 10% of their accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds unless these reserves have reached 50% of the registered capital of the enterprises. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends.

Laws and Regulations Related to Employment and Labor Protection

On June 29, 2007, the National People’s Congress promulgated the Employment Contract Law of PRC (“ Employment Contract Law ”), which became effective as of January 1, 2008, and was amended on December 28, 2012. The Employment Contract Law requires employers to provide written contracts to their employees, restricts the use of temporary workers and aims to give employees long-term job security.

Pursuant to the Employment Contract Law, employment contracts lawfully concluded prior to the implementation of the Employment Contract Law and continuing as of the date of its implementation shall continue to be performed. Where an employment relationship was established prior to the implementation of the Employment Contract Law but no written employment contract was concluded, a contract must be concluded within one month after its implementation.

On September 18, 2008, the State Council promulgated the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Employment Contract Law which came into effect immediately. These regulations interpret and supplement the provisions of the Employment Contract Law.

As of December 31, 2015, we had entered written employment contracts with three of our employees.

Income Tax

On March 16, 2007, the National People’s Congress approved and promulgated the Enterprise Income Tax Law (the “ EIT Law ”). On December 6, 2007, the State Council approved the Implementing Rules. Both the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules became effective on January 1, 2008. Under the EIT Law and the Implementing Rules, which superseded the previous Income Tax Law, the enterprise income tax rate for both domestic companies and foreign invested enterprises is unified at 25%. On December 26, 2007, the State Council promulgated the Circular on Implementation of Enterprise Tax Transition Preferential Policy, or the Preferential Policy Circular. The EIT Law, its Implementing Rules and the Preferential Policy Circular provide a five-year transitional period for certain entities that had enjoyed a favorable income tax rate of less than 25% under the previous Income Tax Law and were established before March 16, 2007, during which period the applicable enterprises income tax rate shall gradually increase to 25%.

On April 14, 2008, the Administration Measures for Recognition of High and New Technology Enterprises, or the Recognition Measures, were jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the SAT, which sets out the standards and process for granting the high and new technology enterprises status. According to the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules as well as the Recognition Measures, enterprises which have been granted the high and new technology enterprises status shall enjoy a favorable income tax rate of 15%. The new EIT Law and its Implementation Rules also provide that “software enterprises” enjoy a two-year income tax exemption starting from the first profit making year, followed by a reduced tax rate of 12.5% for the subsequent three years.

The EIT Law also provides that an enterprise established under the laws of a foreign country or region but whose “de facto management body” is in the PRC be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes and consequently be subject to the PRC income tax at the rate of 25% for its global income. The Implementing Rules merely defines the location of the “de facto management body” as “the place where the exercising, in substance, of the overall management and control of the production and business operation, personnel, accounting, properties, etc., of a non-PRC company is located.” The SAT issued the Circular regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, on April 22, 2009. Circular 82 provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. The SAT issued the Bulletin regarding the Administrative Measures on the Income Tax of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Resident Enterprises (Interim) on July 27, 2011, which became effective on September 1, 2011, providing more guidance on the implementation of Circular 82. This bulletin clarifies matters including resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities. Although both Circular 82 and the bulletin only apply to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not companies like us, the determining criteria set forth in Circular 82 and the bulletin may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises or individuals. Based on a review of surrounding facts and circumstances, the Company does not believe that it is likely that its operations outside of the PRC should be considered a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, due to limited guidance and implementation history of the EIT Law, should the Company be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes, the Company will be subject to PRC tax on worldwide income at a uniform tax rate of 25% retroactive to January 1, 2008.

The EIT Law also imposes a withholding income tax of 10% on dividends distributed by a Foreign Invested Enterprise (an “ FIE ”) to its immediate holding company outside of China if such immediate holding company is considered a non-resident enterprise without any establishment or place within China or if the received dividends have no connection with the establishment or place of such immediate holding company within China, unless such immediate holding company’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a different withholding arrangement. Such withholding income tax was exempted under the previous law. The State of Nevada, where the Company is incorporated, does not have such tax treaty with China. The SAT further promulgated a circular, or Circular 601, on October 27, 2009, which provides that the tax treaty benefits will be denied to “conduit” or shell companies without business substance and that a beneficial ownership analysis will be used based on a “substance-over-form” principle to determine whether to grant the tax treaty benefits. Most our subsidiaries in China are directly held by our non-Chinese subsidiaries. If we are regarded as a non-resident enterprise and our non-Chinese subsidiaries are regarded as resident enterprises, then our non-Chinese subsidiaries may be required to pay a 10% withholding tax on any dividends payable to us. If our non-Chinese subsidiaries are regarded as non-resident enterprises, then our PRC subsidiaries may be required to pay a 5% withholding tax for any dividends payable to our non-Chinese subsidiaries, however, it is still unclear at this stage whether Circular 601 applies to dividends from our PRC subsidiaries paid to our non-Chinese subsidiaries, and if our non-Chinese subsidiaries were not considered as “beneficial owners” of any dividends from their PRC subsidiaries, whether the dividends payable to our non-Chinese subsidiaries would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%.

The EIT Law and its Implementation Rules have tried to scrutinize transactions between related parties. Pursuant to the EIT Law and its Implementation Rules, the tax authorities may impose mandatory adjustment on tax due to the extent a related party transaction is not in line with arm’s-length principle or was entered with a purpose to reduce, avoid or delay the payment of tax. On January 8, 2009, the SAT issued the Implementation Measures for Special Tax Adjustments (Trial), which clarifies the definition of “related party” and sets forth the tax-filing disclosure and documentation requirements, the selection and application of transfer pricing methods, and transfer pricing investigation and assessment procedures.

On December 10, 2009, the SAT issued a circular on Strengthening the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax Collection on Income Derived from Equity Transfer by Non-resident Enterprise, or Circular 698. Pursuant to Circular 698, non-resident enterprises should declare any direct transfer of equity interest of PRC resident enterprises and pay taxes in accordance with the EIT Law and relevant laws and regulations. For an indirect transfer, if the effective tax rate for the transferor (a non-PRC-resident enterprise) is lower than 12.5% under the law of the jurisdiction of the direct transferred target, the transferor is required to submit relevant transaction materials to PRC tax authorities for review. If such indirect transfer is determined by PRC tax authorities to be a transaction without any reasonable business purpose other than for tax avoidance, the gains derived from such transfer will be subject to PRC income tax.

In addition to the above, after the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules were promulgated, the SAT released several regulations to stipulate more details for carrying out the EIT Law and its Implementing Rules. These regulations include:

·              Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on the Issues Concerning the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax Deduction and Exemption (2008);

·              Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Strengthening the Withholding of Enterprise Income Tax on Non-resident Enterprises’ Interest Income Sourcing from China (2008);

·              Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Several Issues Concerning the Recognition of Incomes Subject to the Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

·              Opinion of the State Administration of Taxation on Strengthening the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

·              Notice of the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation on Several Preferential Policies in Respect of Enterprise Income Tax (2008);

·              Interim Measures for the Administration of Collection of Enterprise Income Tax on the Basis of Consolidation of Trans-regional Business Operations (2008);

·              Several Issues Concerning the Enterprise Income Tax Treatment on Enterprise Reorganization (2009);

·              Circular of the State Council on Printing and Distributing Policies for Further Encouraging the Development of the Software Industry and the Integrated Circuit Industry (2011); and

·              Circular on Income Tax Policies for Further Encouraging the Development of Software Industry and Integrated Circuit Industry (2012).