ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that its group company, Dole Philippines Inc. (headquartered in the Philippines; Randolph Fleming, Vice President & Managing Director; hereinafter “Dolefil”), concluded a long-term energy sale and purchase contract for a term of 16 years with Surallah Biogas Ventures Corp. (headquartered in the Philippines; Karim Manuel G. Garcia, CEO; hereinafter “SBVC”), an affiliate of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Under this contract, Dolefil will supply pineapple residue generated during the manufacturing process of Dole products to SBVC as a biogas ingredient and will purchase the generated biogas as electricity from SBVC. This initiative aims to reduce both the environmental burden and electricity cost of Dolefil using renewable energy.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., a partner in this initiative, is a major corporate group that operates power systems, water systems, hospitals and expressways in the Philippines. Under this scheme, the group’s affiliate, SBVC, will construct a biogas generation facility that will start operations in 2020, and will supply gas and electricity to Dolefil at a fixed price for 16 years. As electricity rates on Mindanao, Philippines are skyrocketing and pose a management issue, this initiative is expected to help solve this issue.

Moreover, ITOCHU upholds policies of optimal energy use and supply and the improvement of management productivity through new technologies in its medium-term management plan, “Brand-new Deal 2020. Becoming a Next-generation Merchant,” and this initiative fits with these policies. Considering it to be a very significant initiative in terms of promoting sustainability, ITOCHU will take a progressive approach to the creation of a recycling society through these business activities.