BEIJING, March 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Origin
Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) ("the Company" or "Origin")
an agricultural biotechnology trait and corn seed provider, today
announced the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Dr.
Z. James Chen has set and discussed
new strategic directions for the Company.
"With over 20 years of serving the agricultural industry in
China, Origin has always been
exploring the technology and market frontiers and has accumulated
various leading technologies for the agricultural farmland in
China. Although the delay in GMO
technology commercialization as well as the weak corn seed market
have delayed the financial realization of our key agribiotech and
germplasm technologies, we are confident that our efforts over the
last 20 years have already built the foundation for future growth
despite the weak market conditions," discussed Dr. James Chen, "while we will continue to develop
the agribiotech technologies as we wait for the final
commercialization approval from the Chinese government, we will
focus our effort on the e-commerce for the vast farmland in
China applying blockchain
technologies and foundation seed technologies, we believe our
strategic advantages and past technology development will give us
opportunities to be successful in these business areas."
Below are three key strategic directions Dr. James Chen and new management team has set and
discussed:
1. E-commerce development for the vast farmland in
China
As a leading agriculture seed supplier over the last 20 years,
Origin Agritech has built a strong brand name in the vast farmland
across China and has involved in
the e-commerce to provide seed products and services to the
farmers. In addition to the typical advantages e-commerce can
provide compared to the traditional distribution system, one of the
key advantage e-commerce has for the seed business is the better
ability to track the source of seed supply. With the new blockchain
technologies, there is a potential that the detail original source
of seed products can be tracked and documented. This could resolve
the intellectual property pirating problems the Chinese farmers and
seed providers face over the years. Under the new strategic
cooperation with Elastos Foundation announced earlier, we will
start our e-commerce business development facing the vast Chinese
farmland with the products including but not limited to the
agricultural inputs.
2. Foundation corn seed technology business development
Since the beginning, Origin has been working on the development
of germplasm and hybrid corn seed varieties. The company has built
a large collection of diverse corn seed germplasm, which we believe
is the largest among the Chinese corn seed companies. Also, we have
established a database system with the characterization of these
germplasms in our collection. We believe our unique elite lines
will enable us to create competitive hybrid corn seed products for
the Chinese seed market and possibly for the global corn seed
market.
Since most local seed companies have no or limited R&D
capability, they will rely on the seed technology developed by a
company with foundation seed technologies. Origin is in the unique
position to become a foundation corn seed company, similar to the
success of foundation seed companies in the U.S., since Origin is
one of very few companies in China
with not only large diverse germplasm collection but also the most
advanced breeding technologies, including the largest Doubled
Haploid program in China. As the
new strategic direction, we will increase our business development
effort for our foundation corn seed technologies and become the
first and only foundation seed company in China.
3. Further development of our biotech and genome editing
seed technologies
Origin has been the leading biotech seed technology company in
China and has successfully
developed three leading GM traits. While we are waiting for the
final commercialization approval from the Chinese government, we
cooperate with the government agencies in implementing the
previously announced commercialization plan for GM corn seed
technologies outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, which
ends in 2020. In addition, recent advancement in genome editing
technology opens up tremendous new opportunities in the seed
industry. We are uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity to
expand our scope of technology offerings. Our leading technology
platform established for biotech development, including DNA and
protein engineering, efficient commercial scale plant
transformation and versatile trait-efficacy testing capabilities,
can be seamlessly utilized for genome editing, and has already
enabled us to jump start the project.
"We believe the new strategic directions set by the new
management team represents the key technology and market advantages
built over the last two decades and we trust we can build new
businesses while waiting for the final commercialization approval
of agribiotech technology in China," said Dr. Gengchen Han, Chairman of
Origin Agritech, "the new management team's new strategic
directions have full support from our board and we look forward to
new Origin post commercial seed business divestiture"
About Origin Agritech Limited
Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in
Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing,
is China's leading agricultural biotechnology company,
specializing in crop seed breeding and genetic improvement. Leading
the development of crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech's
phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the
Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of
Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust
biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate
tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. Origin operates breeding
stations nationwide located in key crop-planting regions. Product
lines are vertically integrated for corn. For further information,
please visit the Company's website
at: http://www.originseed.com.cn or http://www.originseed.com.cn/en/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as
defined in the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements address expected
future business and financial performance and financial condition,
and contain words like "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan,"
"believe," "seek," "will," "would," "target," and similar
expressions and variations. Forward-looking statements address
matters that are uncertain. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and
expectations which may not be realized. They also involve risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control. Some
of the important factors that could cause the company's actual
results to differ materially from those discussed in
forward-looking statements are: failure to develop and market new
products and optimally manage product life cycles; ability to
respond to market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies
affecting our products; failure to appropriately manage process
safety and product stewardship issues; changes in laws and
regulations or political conditions; global economic and capital
markets conditions, such as inflation, interest and currency
exchange rates; business or supply disruptions; natural disasters
and weather events and patterns; ability to protect and enforce the
company's intellectual property rights; and separation of
underperforming or non-strategic assets or businesses. The company
undertakes no duty to publicly revise or update any forward-looking
statements as a result of future developments, or new information
or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise
required by securities and other applicable laws.
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SOURCE Origin Agritech Limited