PureCircle and the Colonias Unidas Cooperative Sign Long-Term contract for Expansion of Stevia Production with High-Quality, Proprietary Varieties

(ASUNCION, Paraguay)- January 11, 2010 – On January 7th, PureCircle South America SA (PCSA) and the Cooperativa Colonias Unidas signed a contract for the production and supply of stevia leaves. The event was held at the Cooperative headquarters in Obligado and attended by managers and executives from both companies.

Both PCSA and the Cooperative are forging a strong commitment to develop the production of proprietary varieties of high-quality stevia, to meet the growing international demand for the all-natural, zero-calorie, stevia-based sweetener. The opening of and access to large markets such as the USA, France, Australia, Switzerland and Mexico, has increased the need for major development in the supply of dry leaves.

With this agreement, the parties will initially expand a crop area of 25 hectares involving 30 partners of the Cooperative, and there are ambitious plans to develop more acreage in the coming years.
While the first commercial crops were implemented, a significant investment in experimental areas was made to promote better farming practices and technological improvements were made to facilitate the broad roll out of stevia with the associate producers.

Executives of both companies believe that stevia is an opportunity for many farming families and members of the Colonias Unidas Cooperative, and the Itapúa Department as a whole. Ricardo Wollmeister, General Manager of Colonias Unidas commented, “The collaboration and longterm commitment between Colonias Unidas and PureCircle South America has allowed us to quickly introduce this crop for large scale expansion.” Fernando Chilavert, Managing Director of PureCircle South America added, “We’re proud to partner with Colonias Unidas, who brings a long commitment to agriculture in the region, a highly professional staff, and access to thousands of hectares with their associates for future expansion.”

About PureCircle
PureCircle is a pioneer in the extraction of natural goodness from plants and the world’s leading producer of high-purity Rebaudioside A (Reb A), with a vertically integrated supply chain operating in three continents. PureCircle markets a range of natural, high-intensity sweeteners internationally. Activities range from sourcing of dry stevia leaves and extraction, refining of crude extracts into sweeteners and marketing of these sweeteners to food and beverage manufacturers worldwide. PureCircle is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market with the ticker symbol: LSE.PURE. For more information, visit www.purecircle.com.
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