ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU LOGISTICS CORP. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Kazuhide Sasa, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU LOGISTICS”), the core international logistics company of ITOCHU, has taken a stake in ITOCHU LOGISTICS (CHINA) CO., LTD. (headquartered in Beijing; 白松剛, Chairman; hereinafter “ILC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU, as part of its efforts to develop and strengthen its businesses across the particularly fast-growing Asian region.

ILC is a general third-party logistics (3PL) business company in China belonging to the ITOCHU Group and provides logistics services not only to Japanese companies but also to large foreign and Chinese companies in China’s growing domestic market.

The ITOCHU Group has been rapidly promoting reinforcement of the domestic logistics business in ASEAN and India since 2011 through means such as capital alliances and M&A, with ITOCHU LOGISTICS as the central player. This is to bolster its logistics networks in the Asian region given the rapidly expanding domestic consumer market in Asian countries, including China.

ITOCHU will provide an Asian supply chain by connecting the international logistics network of ITOCHU LOGISTICS with its domestic logistics networks in China and other Asian countries based on the investment of ITOCHU LOGISTICS in ILC, a 3PL business company in China. Also in China, ITOCHU will promote its efforts in new logistics fields such as non-store retailing, pharmaceuticals and health foods, and cold chain in logistics, using the expertise and custom base of ITOCHU LOGISTICS in Japan. ITOCHU LOGISTICS also plans to operate a domestic logistics business in Indonesia within fiscal 2012 to aggressively promote the continued strengthening of logistics in Asia.

Strengths as a trading company-affiliated logistics company

The ITOCHU Group, which provides international transport services including cross-transporting all over the world, making tremendous use of its global logistics network with over 400 bases worldwide, is able to provide door-to-door services by connecting its group networks in China (95 bases) and India (230 bases) with the domestic market in Asian countries. The ITOCHU Group will also provide its customers with an ideally suited business model and supply chain as a trading company-affiliated logistics company by packaging the information capability and networks of a trading company with comprehensive knowledge of customers’ businesses (commercial distribution), in addition to providing logistics operation services. From here forward, ITOCHU will pursue a new business model that integrates commercial distribution with physical distribution, especially in the Asia region.

Company profile of ITOCHU LOGISTICS (CHINA) CO., LTD.

Company profile of ITOCHU LOGISTICS CORP.