WJ GROUP, Chicago, Illinois, August 28, 2003

CHICAGO........WJ Group, a leading exporter and processor of grains and oilseeds from the CIS, has announced record sales results for the previous year. During the 2002-2003 marketing year, WJ had exported 3,075,000 tons of grains and oilseeds from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

The group also processed 270,000 tons of oilseeds this past year. "We had significant growth in both exports and processing for the third consecutive year" announced Joseph Vays, president of the group. He added, "For the first time in our 14 year history, we surpassed 3 million tons in exports."

WJ Group operates the Valuyskiy and Chernyanksiy oilseed crushing plants (Milora and Razdolie brands) in Russia and the Beltzi plant (Floris, Mister Cook brands) in Moldova. Beginning in September of 2003, total operational crushing capacity of the WJ crushing facilities will increase by 15% to 450,000 tons of sunflower seeds per year.

The group also operates the Kherson port grain elevator in Ukraine and has a substantial share participation in the Novorossiysk port silo in Russia. Since the acquisition of the Kherson elevator, its storage capacity had been doubled to 100,000 metric tons of grain. WJ Group plans to double this capacity once again to 200,000 metric tons of grain in the very near future.

With its French subsidiary, WJ France, total grain and oilseed turnover of WJ Group was 3,652,000 mt. Sales revenue for this period was 435 million dollars. "Today, we are analyzing our results, looking for ways to be even more efficient in the future", said David Holpert, WJ's Chief Financial Officer.