In our precious metals division, production in the semiconductors and electronic parts industries has recovered from the sharp decline triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008. Therefore, our sales of precious metal chemical products and electronic materials products recovered, and recovery volumes of precious metal materials have also rebounded. In the second half, furthermore, precious metal prices also recovered from the decline of a year earlier, contributing to overall segment sales.  That said, however, earnings during the first half of the fiscal year were hit hard by the slowdown in production in the semiconductors and electronic parts industries, and as a result, full-term sales were down year-on-year.
  Signs of recovery were also seen in the environment division, but they were rather lackluster, and given that the overall cutback in manufacturing by industrial clients also led to less waste products being produced, the division’s recycling volumes declined year-on-year.

  As a result, sales for the precious metals business fell 11.9% year-on-year to 118,499 million yen, and operating income fell 40.7% year-on-year to 4,042 million yen.

  Our food business continues to face harsh operating conditions as the deflationary environment saps consumer confidence and contributes to ongoing weakness in the restaurant industry.
  As the situation stands, there are signs that price erosion for chicken meat, Surimi fish paste, and other similar products is coming to an end. In terms of seafood products in particular, shrimp and the like saw growth in sales volume, but not by enough to counter a decline in volume of our key Surimi products; consequently, sales in this product grouping contracted overall. In addition, sales of livestock products including chicken meat as well as agricultural products such as vegetables were also pushed down by a combination of volume decline and price erosion.

  As a result, the food business reported consolidated net sales of 37,975 million yen (down 20.9%) and operating income of 719 million yen (down 23.3%).