TFC and Sinopec Asset Management Corporation, a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), reached an agreement to establish a joint venture to produce and sell DMSO. The signing ceremony took place on June 17 at Toray Industries, Inc. Head Office. Mr. Hu Chunhua, governor of Hebei Province, China, and guest of honor also attended the ceremony.

The contract was signed while the Chinese delegation, Mr. Hu, Mr. Yin Ya Li, Secretary General of Hebei Province and representatives of Toray Group looked on including Mr. Shinichi Koizumi, Executive Vice President of Toray, Mr. Toshiyuki Asakura, Senior Vice President of Toray, Mr. Tetsuya Watanabe, President and CEO of TFC, Mr. Ikuyoshi Takeuchi, Chairman of TFC, and Mr. Li Min, Party Secretary of Sinopec Asset Management Corporation Cangzhou Branch.

Members of the joint venture project are ready to do their best to ensure a swift start up of this company in order to expand TFC's world-leading DMSO business in the rapidly growing Chinese market.

(By Atsushi Hashimoto)