ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has established FORJ Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Ozu-shi, Ehime; Takayuki Ichimura, President) with Mukai Kogyo Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Ozu-shi, Ehime; Kazuhito Mukai, CEO; hereinafter "Mukai Kogyo"). The production and export of Japanese cedar lumber and related assets are being acquired from Mukai Kogyo to bolster our Japanese cedar lumber business for North America.

During its period of high economic growth, cedar and hinoki (Japanese cypress) were extensively planted in Japan to meet rising demand for logs and lumber. The trees planted at that time are more than 50 years old today and are suitable for use in logging and lumbering. There have been calls recently to expand the use of domestically produced logs and lumber.

To date, ITOCHU has purchased lumber products made from domestic logs and lumber from Mukai Kogyo and has sold products in the North American market via its subsidiaries, namely ALTA Forest Products LLC and Master Halco, Inc. Recently, we have established a domestic logs and lumber company for North America and acquired existing production equipment from Mukai Kogyo. In doing so, we will strengthen the development and production of products made from domestic logs and lumber for the North American market, where demand for these products is expected to continue to grow, in pursuit of continued sales expansion. We will start by acquiring partners’ existing factories and consider improving and expanding production bases.

ITOCHU has set its management policy with this theme: The Brand-new Deal - opportunities are shifting downstream –. Going forward, the ITOCHU Group will keep updated on the ever-diversifying needs from consumers in the North American building materials area as we expand our business operations.