Ekosem-Agrar reports record harvest

• Russia’s third largest milk producer and seed supplier continues to push ahead growth
• Annual milk output up 70 percent to 50 million litres
• Record yields for sugar beets, grain maize and fodder crops
• Expansion of existing operations proceeding on schedule

Walldorf, 8 December 2011 - Ekosem-Agrar GmbH, the German holding company for Ekoniva, the Russian group focusing on milk production, reports record figures for its Russian agriculture activities in 2011. Compared to last year’s yields which were impacted by the severe draught, the 2011 harvesting season saw the Group achieve record yields for sugar beets, grain maize, fodder crops and soybeans. A large part of the harvest serves as fodder for the approximately 28,000 cattle, including 10,200 dairy cows. In the financial year 2010/2011 (September 30), milk production came to approximately 50 million litres, up 70 percent on the year.

This makes Ekoniva - whose founder, Stefan Dürr, has been active in Russian agriculture since the end of the eighties and has been instrumental in the sector’s modernisation - one of Russia’s largest milk producers. The Russian milk market remains significantly undersupplied and per-capita consumption of milk products is clearly lower than in western Europe. Apart from the fast-growing milk business, the company is also Russia’s third-largest seed producer and one of the few suppliers of premium beef in Russia.

Supported by the substantial expansion of its farmland by 19,000 hectares and benign climatic conditions, the Group achieved record yields in the 2011 harvest. Growth was particularly notable in the sugar beets (up 25,500 tons to 117,000 tons) and grain maize (up by 2,600 tons to 51,000 tons) segments. Yields were not only clearly higher than in the weak prior year but also exceeded the long-term averages by a clear margin. Output was also substantially higher for winter wheat, barley and potatoes, where yields more than tripled, while fodder crops increased from 149,000 tons in the prior year to 343,000 tons. The volumes now in storage will safeguard fodder supplies until spring 2013. The Group’s total farmland in Russia amounts to 170,000 hectares, including some 120,000 hectares of crop-bearing land.

Over the past five years we have invested more than EUR 100 million in our six locations, which is now being reflected in significantly increased business results. Agriculture is one of Russia’s strategic sectors and offers an excellent political and economic environment for continued growth,” says Stefan Dürr, Managing Director of Ekosem-Agrar GmbH. “We use state-of-the art installations and technologies and our sustainable business model is geared to the highest standards of quality. This is as true for our Milk Production Division as it is for our Seed Production and our Meat Production segment which we are currently building up.“

Ekosem-Agrar plans to further expand the farms operated by its Russian subsidiary in the coming years and to continue its profitable growth course. The objective is to double both the amount of farmland and the number of dairy cows by 2014.