News release

HighChem Company Limited (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Taka-Ushio, hereinafter HighChem) has established a business alliance with Takaroku Shoji Co. Ltd. (Headquarters: Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, Representative Director & Chairman: Gensaku Takahashi, hereinafter Takaroku Shoji), specialized in plastic business which has advanced compound technology, in the biodegradable plastic compounding business. Through this process, we will transform biodegradable resins such as PLA (Polylactic acid) and PBAT (Polybutylene adipate terephthalate) which we import from China into highly functional resin, and apply these products in various fields as environmentally friendly plastics.

With the growing biodegradable plastic market in China, HighChem is working to import resins from China and exploring to the Japanese market. We have contracted a strategic business partnership agreement (SBAA) with a subsidiary of BBCA Group, PLA's largest manufacturer in China, in August 2020. In addition to PLA resins, we have been strengthening our handling of biodegradable resins such as PBAT, PHA, etc.

Takaroku Shoji is a trading company specializing in plastic and is a production manufacturer which has strength in compound technology and coloring for resins. The company also has a track record of developing original products and highly functional technology for recycled plastics. The company is well known as an expert group on plastics from various angles in this industry.

As HighChem and Takaroku shoji has formed good partnership, we will add and process plant-based modifiers to the biodegradable materials imported from China, and to develop and expand applications in high-performance fields that cannot be achieved with neat resins.

Specifically: realization of high functionality such as heat resistance, transparency and impact resistance by compound the resins and alloy with plastics such as ABS resin and PC resin. By achieving these goals, we intend to expand our business to areas that use a large amount of plastic resin, such as electronics and amusement products. The annual goal of handling will be 1,000 tons a year.

The BBCA Group has a plan to increase the production capacity of PLA from the current production line of 50,000 tons per year to 700,000 tons per year by 23 years. In addition, PBAT and PBS are planned to grow by a total of 1.24 million tons per year, 4.8 times more than the production capacity as of June 2020. HighChem is committed to further enhancing the handling items of biodegradable materials in response to emerging China's biodegradable plastics. At the same time, HighChem is committed to contributing to the global spread of biodegradable plastics by developing original grades and processing methods through technological partnerships with not only Japanese but also global compounder manufacturers.

Overview of Takaroku Shoji

■Company name: Takaroku Shoji Co. Ltd.
■Location: Station Port Tower Building 6F, 2-20-1 Nishi-Nippori, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-8556
■Representative Director:
■Capital of :95 million yen
■Business contents: Plastic Compound Business/Synthetic Resin Raw Materials Sales Business/ Machine Equipment Sales Business/ Recycling Business/ Technical Development

Overview of HighChem

■ Company name: HighChem Company Limited
■ Company name: Tokyo Toranomon Global Square 11F, 1-3-1, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001
■ Representative Director: Taka Ushio
■ Capital of :99.8 million yen
■ Business contents: Export/import sales, OEM manufacturing of chemical products/ technology license-related business/ Catalyst manufacturing and sales, etc.

[Inquiries from the press regarding this release]

HighChem Company limited, Administration Division PR Team
TEL: 03-5542-0580 E-mail: kuroiwa@highchem.co.jp
URL:http://www.highchem.co.jp