ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that Beijing ITOCHU-Huatang Comprehensive Processing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “BIC”) has acquired shares in Ningbo Baominrui Trade Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Baominrui”) and Ningbo New Zhapu Economic Trade Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “New Zhapu”) in the Ningbo area of Zhejiang province, making them its consolidated subsidiaries.

Baominrui and New Zhapu are among the largest wholesalers of daily goods in the Ningbo area. They sell cosmetics, toiletries, and hygiene products of major European and U.S. manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble and Unilever, to around 3,000 retailers in the Ningbo area.

ITOCHU established BIC in 1997 and has developed the wholesale of clothes, foods, and household articles, focusing on Japanese retailers. ITOCHU made Hangzhou New Huahai Business & Trading Co., Ltd., a major wholesaler of daily goods in the Hangzhou area of Zhejiang province, a consolidated subsidiary in 2009. With 13 bases in the coastal region and in the inland cities, it has grown to become the only comprehensive wholesaler with a nationwide network in China. With the acquisitions of shares in the two companies, ITOCHU will expand its range of major products, starting by dealing in products of Procter & Gamble and Unilever in addition to the products of major Japanese manufacturers, including Shiseido and Unicharm, as well as leading European and U.S. manufacturers such as L’Oréal and NIVEA, which it has already been selling. Zhejiang province ranks fourth in China in terms of GDP. ITOCHU will develop business in the Hangzhou and Ningbo districts, the leading areas of consumption in Zhejiang province, and will enhance its sales networks in major cities.

With these investments, ITOCHU expects that its sales of daily goods in China will be around RMB 2.1 billion (around \34.3 billion), the largest in China, in FY2013. ITOCHU will enhance its operations in South China and in the inland areas to solidify its number-one position in the wholesale of daily goods in China. It aims to record turnover of around RMB 3.5 billion (\57.2 billion) in 2015.

China’s cosmetics and daily goods market has grown rapidly over the past three years, to become a RMB 135 billion (\2,206 billion) market. ITOCHU will expand sales of daily goods and cosmetics, the market for which is expected to grow in China, through BIC, enhancing its comprehensive wholesale function.

Company Profiles