On January 18, 2018, Vland Biotech Groupand Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), a Fortune 500 company in the US,signed a cooperative agreement and launched a joint research center in Qingdao.

Zhu Peiji, Deputy Mayor of QingdaoMunicipal Government, met with Mark Ford, Director of the Agricultural andTrade Division of the US Embassy in China, and ADM’s management team. Heattended the signing ceremony.

During the opening ceremony of the “Vland-ADMJoint Enzyme Research Center" held at Vland R&D Center, Mr. HuangYingsheng, Deputy District Governor of Laoshan District Government of Qingdao,and Todd Werpy, ADM’s Senior Vice President and Technical Director, unveiled thecenter.

As one of the top ten enterprises inChina’s enzyme industry, Vland attaches great importance to internationaltechnology cooperation and constantly seeks partners worldwide. From 2015 to2018, the management team of Vland and ADM paid frequent visits to each other.On March 3, 2017, under the witness of Hong Lei, Consul General of the People’sRepublic of China in Chicago, Vland and ADM signed the MOU in the field ofenzymes at ADM’s headquarter in Chicago. With special discussions between thetwo parties, the JDA terms were formally confirmed on November 15, 2017, and along-term cooperative relationship was established.

The management team of both parties allexpressed their expectations for the prospect of cooperation.

Mr. Chen Gang, President of Vland, said, “Vlandis a high-tech enterprise with biological enzymes as its core business. It isconstantly seeking partners around the world to build a global technologicalinnovation system. Vland and ADM have worked together to develop enzyme businessand established a joint R&D center, which is a very important stage. Wealso look forward to closer cooperation between the two parties on jointlyproviding effective solutions for the existing fast-growing market andconsumers."

Todd Werpy, Senior Vice President andTechnical Director of ADM, said, “This agreement and the opening of a newenzyme lab will significantly enhance our product development capabilities inresponse to the rapidly growing enzyme market. In accordance with theagreement, our R&D team will obtain new strains, which will be utilized bythe new US enzyme lab to develop the most advanced feed enzymes. We lookforward to adding new members to our large number of powerful animal nutritionproducts and solutions.”

About ADM

ADM, member of fortune 500, is one of theworld’s largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers, servingcustomers in more than 170 countries. It has a global value chain that includesapproximately 500 crop procurement locations, 270 ingredient manufacturingfacilities, 44 innovation centers and the world’s premier crop transportationnetwork.