AGRANA - Official opening of bioethanol plant in Pischelsdorf

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Wien (euro adhoc) - The AGRANA bioethanol plant in Pischelsdorf|Lower
Austria has now been officially opened following a start-up phase
spanning several weeks. This facility meets the admixture targets for
bioethanol based on locally grown raw materials for the Austrian
market. When calculated, taking the entire product life cycle into
consideration, the bioethanol produced at the Pischelsdorf plant
generates savings in CO2 emissions equivalent to 380,000 tonnes per
year.

At the opening ceremony, Environment Minister Josef Pröll highlighted
the important role played by the plant in improving Austria´s climate
balance given that every litre of bioethanol represents a saving of
around 50% in terms of CO2 emissions when compared to petrol. In
addition, the Pischelsdorf plant can also annually produce up to
190,000 tonnes of the premium quality, protein-rich, animal feed
"ActiProt" with which imports of soya-based animal feed can be
replaced. "Bioethanol from Austria therefore makes both perfect
environmental and economic sense," remarked Pröll at the opening
ceremony which was also attended by Ernst Karpfinger, President of
the Austrian Beet Growers´ Association, the co-owner of the plant,
Christian Konrad, General Counsel of Raiffeisen and Chairman of the
Supervisory Board of AGRANA, Erwin Hameseder, General Director of
Raiffeisenlandesbank and a member of the Supervisory Board of AGRANA,
Provincial Member of Parliament, Josef Plank, and the President of
the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture and a Member of Parliament,
Hermann Schultes.

The Pischelsdorf facility was constructed following the investment of
around EUR 125 million and currently employs 69 personnel. Up to
620,000 tonnes of raw materials, mainly wheat, corn and concentrated
sugar beet juice, will be processed each year to produce up to
240,000 m³ of bioethanol. The maximum consumption of raw materials
will be less than Austria´s average export volume of cereals. The
Pischelsdorf plant will also replace the import of around 100,000
tonnes of crude oil equivalents and approximately 130,000 tonnes of
Austria´s soya-based feed imports.

AGRANA´s Chief Executive Officer, Johann Marihart: "Our plant in
Pischelsdorf largely meets its raw material requirements from
Austrian farming land, a proportion of which is former fallow land
which, since 2008, can now be re-planted following the suspension of
the EU Commission´s 10% set-aside scheme. Given a forecast surplus of
around 30 million tonnes of cereals in the EU, bioethanol is an
important market."

This press release is available online in German and English at
www.agrana.com.

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG

Mag. Maria Fally

Investor Relations

Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12905

e-mail:maria.fally@agrana.com

Mag. Ulrike Pichler

Public Relations

Tel.: +43-1-211 37-12084

e-mail:ulrike.pichler@agrana.com

Branche: Food
ISIN: AT0000603709
WKN: 779535
Index: WBI, ATX Prime
Börsen: Börse Berlin / Präsenzhandel
Börse Frankfurt / Präsenzhandel
Börse Stuttgart / Präsenzhandel
Wiener Börse AG / official market


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