GLG Life Tech Corporation (TSX:GLG) ("GLG" or the "Company"), a world leading producer of high quality stevia, announces that it has begun operations at two new stevia processing facilities in China. The facilities, currently the two largest stevia leaf processing centers in the world, are located in the cities of Mingguang (Anhui Province) and Dongtai (Jiangsu Province), China where the company's major stevia leaf growing areas are located. The new plants increase the Company's total raw leaf processing capacity from an existing 5,000 metric tons to 41,000 metric tons, an increase of 720%.
Original capacity estimates for this Phase 1 construction were 10,000 metric tons of capacity at each location. After two weeks of production line testing in December, GLG anticipates achieving annual throughput of an estimated 18,000 metric tons of raw leaf processing capacity at each new facility, nearly doubling projections. The higher than planned capacity increases can be attributed to conservative planning assumptions and the successful large scale testing of new and innovative technology from the Company's R&D team, which was not factored into the original capacity expectations. The improvements include significant reductions in both water usage and actual processing time.
Further, Company management met with government leaders in China during the past month who expressed long-term support for GLG and its new facilities as well as its protected growing areas. These capacity developments and state-of-the-art facilities, together with the Company's introduction of its proprietary new stevia leaf strain, increased planting for 2009 (to 2.5 billion stevia seedlings) and government support, position the Company to meet the anticipated increase in market demand as a result of the recent announcement of "No Objection" from the FDA for the use of stevia as a general purpose sweetener in the United States.
GLG Chairman and CEO, Dr. Luke Zhang stated, "As a pioneer in making stevia possible as an everyday all natural, zero-calorie sweetener, we are pleased that our two new facilities greatly exceed our projections. As the two largest stevia leaf processing centers in the world, we expect very positive results for GLG as we continue to grow our capacity, revenue and profitability in 2009. In addition, we are proud to work with the governments in the top stevia growing regions in the world today, the Anhui and Jiangsu provinces in China, who have expressed their continual support for our operations. GLG will continue to build its business as a world leader in the supply of high quality stevia."
About GLG Life Tech Corporation
GLG Life Tech Corporation specializes in growing, extracting, and refining high grade stevia, an all natural, zero-calorie sweetener. With fully integrated operations that include seed breeding and proprietary processing technology, GLG is a global leader in the supply of high quality stevia for use in food and beverages. Please visit www.glglifetech.com for further information.
Forward-looking statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements evaluating the market, the Company's anticipated production capacity, the potential demand for stevia and general economic conditions. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or words and phrases that state or indicate that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. While the Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations about future events, the statements are not guarantees of the Company's future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include amongst others the effects of general economic conditions, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal proceedings and negotiations, industry supply levels, competitive pricing pressures and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. Please refer to the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Information Form in respect of our year-ended December 31, 2007 and the risk factors in our Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2007 for a discussion of these and other factors underlying forward-looking statement, both of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's name. In light of these factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release might not occur. Further, although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. As there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: GLG Life Tech Corporation
GLG Life Tech Corporation Brian Meadows Chief Financial Officer (604) 641-1368 (604) 641-1214 (FAX) Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.glglifetech.com