Agrokultura AB : Harvest report 2013

12/13/2013

Agrokultura AB ("the Company"), the owner and operator of farmland with agricultural operations in Russia and Ukraine, reports further improved yield in its 2013 harvest.

Highlights

-  Harvest completed in Ukraine and 97% complete in Russia

-  Yields continue to show strong positive trends demonstrating improvements in operations

-  Russian weighted average yield increases +31% on 2012, Ukraine up 11% on 2012 and Kaliningrad cluster up 9%

-  Total harvested area at 126,848 hectares (2012: 123,300)

-  Gross harvest approaching 500,000 tonnes

-  Company has refocussed its cost base to reflect the drop in prices over 2013

Stephen Pickup, Managing Director of Agrokultura, commented,

"2013 crops have benefited from the good weather conditions in Russia for most of the season although rain in the harvest time has delayed completion. Significant yield improvements show the potential of our crops. We will continue to improve the efficiency of operations in the coming year with the immediate focus being on the cost side"

"Although still well above average for the country and above the results of 2012, we had targeted higher yields for Ukrainian grains and we are making the relevant changes to input programmes and operating techniques to improve performance. Rapeseed however has again shown it is well suited to western Ukraine with excellent yields which improved materially over 2012."

Harvest 2013

Despite a late spring and a wet autumn, weather conditions have been reasonable in the Company's areas of operations. Given the lack of material global weather events, global supply for agricultural commodities has been high this year which has depressed pricing although prices have partially recovered recently in the local Russian market. Ukraine pricing has been down compared to 2012 and expectations. The harvest of the winter planted crops overall saw good weather conditions however conditions turned wet for the later harvest of the spring planted crops. Ukraine completed its harvesting operations in early December whereas Russia is left with approximately 2,300 hectares of corn and sunflower which will be harvested when weather conditions permit.

The Company has to date harvested a gross total of approximately 470,000 tonnes of crop, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2012 (392,400 tonnes gross).

In Russia, the weighted average improvement in yields was 31 per cent compared to 2012. The sunflower harvest delivered an average net yield of 2.3 tonnes/ha (up 15% on 2012 - 2.0 tonnes/ha). Wheat yields and corn yields also have shown material improvements (+44% and +33% respectively). In Kaliningrad, average yield improvements were 9% compared to 2012 with wheat providing the greatest increase.

In Ukraine, weighted average yields were up 11 per cent compared to 2012 with the best performance coming from rapeseed which showed an increased yield of 33 per cent compared to 2012 over 13,774 ha. All crops other than corn showed an increase in yield. The corn harvest delivered a net 5.7 tonnes per ha (2012, 7.2 tonnes per hectare). Corn yields were negatively impacted by the late extension of winter and certain related operating issues.

A full cost and revenue analysis of the different crops will be provided with the year-end report in March 2014.

The table below shows the harvested yields achieved in the 2013 harvest. Net yields are estimates.

Harvest 2013, split by crop and by region

	Harvested area, ha	Gross Yield tonne/ha
Total for Group	126,800	3.8
Ukraine
Crop	Harvested area, ha	Gross   Yield tonne/ha	Estimated Net Yield/ha	Increase / (decrease) on 2012
Winter rape	13,800	3.0	2.9	+33%
Winter wheat	14,200	3.9	3.8	+2%
Winter barley	4,200	3.9	3.7	+12%
Corn	7,900	6.9	5.7	-21%
Sunflower	7,800	2.4	2.2	+16%
Soya	100	2.0	1.9	+16%
Buckwheat	2,200	1.3	1.1	+15%
Total Ukraine	50,200		3.5
Russia Central Black Soil Region
Crop	Harvested area, ha	Gross   Yield tonne/ha	Estimated   Net Yield/ha	Increase / (decrease) on 2012
Winter wheat	24,400	3.8	3.6	+45%
Sunflower*	15,900	2.5	2.3	+17%
Sugar beet	1,300	54.2	47.9	+30%
Spring barley	8,500	2.7	2.6	+43%
Corn*	3,343	7.1	6.1	+32%
Soybean	5,200	1.3	1.3	+26%
Spring rape	7,300	1.1	1.0	-31%
Buckwheat	2,300	1.7	1.5	+155%
Other	900	2.6	2.4	NA
Total Russia CBS	69,100		3.6
* Expected-   sunflower 92 per cent complete, corn 66 per cent complete
Kaliningrad
Crop	Harvested area, ha	Gross   Yield tonne/ha	Estimated  Net Yield/ha	Increase / (decrease) on 2012
Winter Wheat	1,900	4.8	4.3	+16%
Winter Rape	1,500	2.1	1.9	+6%
Spring Barley	2,100	2.8	2.5	-17%
Spring Rape	200	1.3	1.1	0%
Spring Wheat	1,300	3.6	3.2	+45%
Other	600	2.1	1.9	+6%
Total   Kaliningrad	7,600		2.9

Less than 2,300 hectares of corn and sunflower remain to be harvested across Russia CBS. Weather permitting, the Company expects to have completed the harvest of this area by the end of year. These fields are included in the tables above at the average yield to date.

Stockholm, 13 December 2013

Stephen Pickup, Group Managing Director, tel. [phone] 
Kristian Shaw, Group CFO, tel. [phone]