Press release
St Helier, Jersey
August 5, 2010
Black Earth Farming LTD Harvest update
Severe weather conditions with average temperatures far above normal as well as
very little rainfall has affected this year's grain harvest. The Company
commenced its harvest on July 8 and had as of August 4 concluded harvesting
little more than 50 percent of the total planted area of around 196,000
hectares. As previously communicated, lower than normal winter temperatures
affected the planted area of winter crops negatively.
The harvest of winter wheat - the largest single crop in terms of area planted -
has been completed and approximately 165,000 tons have been collected from
82,863 hectares resulting in an average gross yield of 2.0 tons per hectare.
Spring wheat was harvested on 10,157 hectares and resulted in an average gross
yield of 1.4 tons per hectare. Regarding barley 13,985 hectares have been
harvested yielding 1.4 tons of crops per hectare.
Remaining cultures, including soya, sunflower, rape and corn maize, are still
pre-harvest or in such an early stage that the currently harvested area is not
yet considered a useful indicator of weighted average yields for the whole
planted area. The entire harvest for this year is expected to be completed
around the mid of October.
Given the extreme operating conditions across many Russian agricultural regions
local market conditions are very volatile due to the uncertainty and thus
especially hard to predict. Average local prices for wheat have increased by 21
to 45 percent compared to 2009 depending on quality while prices for malting
barley have soared 74 percent, albeit with high recent volatility. As the
harvests of soya, sunflower, and corn maize has yet to commence pricing for
these crops are particularly uncertain. Lower nationwide grain production will
also likely have an effect on costs of storage, grain handling and
transportation.
For additional information, please contact:
Gustav Wetterling, IR Director, Black Earth Farming Ltd., Tel: +44 207 117 81 00
Notes to Editor:
Black Earth Farming Ltd. is a leading farming company, publicly listed in
Stockholm and operating in Russia. It acquires, owns and farms agricultural land
assets primarily in the fertile Black Earth region in southwest Russia. Black
Earth Farming has gained a strong market position in the Kursk, Tambov, Lipetsk,
Samara, Voronezh and Ryazan areas, controlling some 330,000 hectares of what
perhaps is the world's most fertile soil.
In 2008 Black Earth Farming harvested some 141,900 hectares and in 2009 it has
harvested over 183,000 hectares, effectively making it one of the world's
largest farming companies by planted area. The Company's main products are
wheat, barley, corn, sunflowers and rape seeds.
Corporate website: www.blackearthfarming.com
