ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has won the Award for Excellence at the Nikkei Annual Report Awards 2012 hosted by Nikkei Inc.

The Nikkei Annual Report Awards are traditional, highly prestigious awards, which are granted to outstanding annual reports published by Japanese companies. The competition has been held every year since 1998 with the aim of encouraging improvements in annual reports and their increased use. This year 76 companies submitted their annual reports for judging, and one Grand Prize winner, two winners of the Award for Excellence, three winners of the Special Award seven winners of the Regular Award, eight winners of an Honorable Mention, one Effort Award winner, and one Encouragement Award winner were selected from among them. A panel of judges consisting of fund managers and analysts, among others, selected the winners. They strictly judge the companies’ IR activities themselves based on a wide range of criteria, irrespective of the size and business performance of the companies.

Reasons for the award being granted to ITOCHU, as given by the judges, include the clarity of the CEO’s message, the detailed description of its CSR activities, and the specific description of its investment strategies. ITOCHU believes that its annual report was recognized because of the clear and straightforward description of the nature of its IR activities, which involve efforts by the entire Company under the leadership of senior management.

ITOCHU will continue its efforts to improve its annual report and will strive to improve information disclosure to all of its stakeholders.

[Reference] ITOCHU’s Annual Report (for the year ended March 31, 2012)

• http://www.itochu.co.jp/en/ir/doc/annual_report/