Origin Agritech Limited (SEED) Announces Completion of the Second Notes Repurchase Agreement

Dec. 30, 2009 (Business Wire) — Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) (“Origin” or the “Company”) today announced that it completed its Second Notes Repurchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) as of December 30, 2009 with Citadel Equity Fund Ltd. (“Citadel”) of the remaining portion of the Company’s outstanding 1% Guaranteed Senior Secured Convertible Notes due 2012 (the “Notes”) by full repayment in cash of the agreed upon purchase price due to Citadel.

Liang Yuan, Chief Executive Officer of Origin Agritech, stated, “Origin has never been in a stronger position strategically, technologically, and, most appropriately, financially, in this situation. We are repurchasing our notes based on this strength. Our current cash receipts from this FY 2010 selling season are again the highest in our history, and this should continue to be evident in the first quarters on our balance sheet. We repaid our debt to eliminate any possible dilution and demonstrate our upcoming confidence in the near term future.”

The Company issued the Notes to Citadel in an aggregate principle amount of US$40 million in June 2007, and repurchased $23.4 million in principle of those notes in July 2008 and January 2009. This composes the last tranche of the aggregate principle amount of the remaining US$16.6 million, for a repurchase price of US$104,000 for each principal amount of US$100,000 of such Notes. These repurchased notes have been cancelled.

This Note repurchase provides the Company with the opportunity to eliminate expensive debt on our balance sheet, receive favorable financial terms, and limits company liability going forward in light the current global capital market conditions, which should provide the company with significant flexibility for future growth and capital opportunities.

About Origin

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Beijing, Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ GS: SEED) is China’s leading, vertically-integrated agricultural biotechnology company specializing in research, development and production to supply the growing populations of China. Origin develops, grows, processes, and markets high quality, hybrid crop seeds to farmers throughout China and parts of Southeast Asia via a network of approximately 3,800 first-level distributors and 65,000 second-level distributors and retailers, and possesses a pipeline of genetically modified seed products including glyphosate resistant corn and Bt Corn. This first genetically modified corn seed product for China, Phytase corn, was approved in November 2009 which Origin possesses exclusive rights. For further information, please log on www.originagritech.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “continue,” or variations of such words, similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Neither we nor any other person can assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Origin’s filings with the SEC including its annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 23, 2009. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.