Ekosem-Agrar AG expands organic farming business segment

• Conversion process of three more farm started in 2019
• Agricultural land to be expanded from 6,000 hectares to around 27,000 hectares
• Herd to be increased from 320 to up to 1,500 dairy cows

Walldorf, 6 March 2020 – Ekosem-Agrar AG, the German holding company of Russian milk producer EkoNiva Group, is successively expanding its organic farming operations. In addition to the organic farm Savinskaya Niva in the Kaluga region, which was certified to EU standards in 2015 and to Russian standards in 2019, three other conventional farms of the Group in the Orenburg, Novosibirsk and Moscow oblasts are currently being converted to organic farming.

Especially in the Moscow region, the conversion is progressing fast. With a total of 3,600 hectares, a large part of the farm’s agricultural land already meets the requirements for organic farming. Another 2,000 hectares could follow in the coming months. The farm in the Orenburg region has already received EU certification for organic farming for 7,000 hectares of its total 11,000 hectares. The land that used to be conventionally farmed is still in the two-year conversion phase that precedes the marketing of certified organic products. During this phase, all regulations for organic farming must already be complied with. Uncultivated land may be converted directly. The farm in the Novosibirsk oblast is expected to be certified before the end of this year.

In addition to the EU seal of Kiwa BCS, the three new organic farms are also to be certified according to the Russian GOST standard for “products from organic production” in 2020.

Anatolij Nakarjakov, Head of the Organic Farming Business Unit: “We are very satisfied with the conversion process to date. Especially in the area of crop farming, we already made significant progress in 2019 and expanded our organic agricultural land from originally 6,000 hectares in the Kaluga region to meanwhile over 16,000 hectares in four regions. All in all, the complete conversion of the three additional farms will enable us to expand our organic agricultural land to around 27,000 hectares.”

Besides crop farming, its is also planned to establish and expand suckler cow farming and dairy farming at the new organic farms. At the farms in the Orenburg and Novosibirsk regions, the previously conventional suckler cow herds are to be expanded from around 5,300 cattle to 10,000 organically kept cattle. In organic dairy farming, Ekosem-Agrar plans to significantly expand the dairy cow herd for the production of organic raw milk of the farm in the Moscow oblast from currently around 320 to up to 1,500 dairy cows. These could produce up to 10,000 tons of organic raw milk per year.

Stefan Dürr, main shareholder and CEO of Ekosem-Agrar AG: “The consumption of organic products is becoming more and more important also in Russia. By converting selected farms to organic farming and expanding our organic milk and meat production, we are pioneering a Russian market that is characterized by high-quality products and, consequently, by attractive margins.”

About Ekosem-Agrar

Ekosem-Agrar AG, Walldorf, is the German holding company of the EkoNiva Group, one of the largest Russian agricultural companies. A herd of approx. 190,000 cattle in milk production (thereof about 100,000 dairy cows) and a daily output of approx. 2,500 tons of raw milk make the company the largest milk producer in the country. The Group controls an agricultural land area of about 600,000 hectares and is also one of the leading Russian seed producers. The founder and CEO of the company is Stefan Dürr, who has been active in the Russian agricultural sector since the end of the 1980s and has been instrumental in modernizing the industry in the past three decades. In 2009, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his contributions to the German-Russian Dialogue on Agriculture. The Group employs roughly 14,000 people and has a presence in nine regions in Russia. Ekosem-Agrar generated a total output of EUR 377 million and adjusted EBITDA of EUR 116 million in 2018. Further information is available at: www.ekosem-agrar.de

Ekosem-Agrar Contact

Adrian Schairer // T: +49 (0) 6227 3585 936 // E: ir@ekosem-agrar.de

Irina Makey // Ekosem-Agrar AG // Johann-Jakob-Astor-Str. 49 // 69190 Walldorf // T: +49 (0) 6227 3585 919 // E: irina.makey@ekosem-agrar.de

Press / Investor Relations

Fabian Kirchmann, Anna-Lena Mayer // IR.on AG // T: +49 (0) 221 9140 970 // E: presse@ekosem-agrar.de