Origin Agritech Announces Origin e-Commune Network and a New Joint Venture, Expanding Business from Seeds to Other Agricultural Products and Services

BEIJING,Oct. 2,2018 -- Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED),("the Company" or "Origin") an agriculture technology and rural e-commerce company,today announced that the Company has started Origin e-Commune Network and entered a new joint venture in Hubei Province with five major agricultural product distributors in the province. Origin holds 51% of equity in this new joint venture. This joint venture,Hubei Aoyu Agricultural Technology Limited (Hubei Aoyu),will provide broad agricultural products and services in addition to the corn seed products from Origin Agritech in Hubei province. This JV will be the first of several similar joint ventures Origin is in the process to form in the central China agricultural provinces.

The establishment of Hubei Aoyu marks a major milestone for the Origin's rural e-commerce strategy. With Hubei Aoyu and other similar JVs,Origin is now creating an Origin e-Commune Network based on e-commerce technologies and Origin's strong brand equity across rural China. Origin e-Commune Network is founded in the backdrop of the changing rural business environment as the result of new directions for Chinese rural development,fast growing technologies in e-commerce,expansion of 4G communication network,and modernization of rural logistics system recently.

This e-commune network philosophy is expected to revolutionize the Chinese agricultural industry as the new e-commune network could provide integrated and customized technology solution to the farmers to increase the total economic value per acre of land. Such e-commune network will not only offer farmers with the agricultural input products,but also provide much broader pre- and post-harvest services. Furthermore,the Origin e-Commune Network creates a system where distributors and farmers will participate as partnership rather than middle level distributorship and end-users in the current distribution system.

The celebration of the joint venture formation was held in Xiangyang,Hubei,a historical and major agricultural city. Dr. Gengchen Han,Executive Chairman of Origin Agritech,attended the celebration and has outlined Origin e-Commune Network philosophy to create a strong agricultural cooperative entity. "The agricultural market in China is experiencing a new growth directions and we believe that Origin e-Commune Network will enable a new form of cooperation between products and service providers and farmers. With its strong brand name and over 20 years of serving the farmers,Origin is in a great position to initiate such innovative business model as we're entering a new technology era for the Ag industry in China," said Dr. Han. More than 40 major distributors in Hubei province have attended this event.

About Origin Agritech Limited

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

View original content:/news-releases/origin-agritech-announces-origin-e-commune-network-and-a-new-joint-venture-expanding-business-from-seeds-to-other-agricultural-products-and-services-300722806.html