Sojitz engages in the woodchip processing business through four joint ventures in Vietnam that export processed woodchips, mainly for use as raw materials by Japanese paper manufacturers.

The timber that serves as the raw material is produced through tree-planting activities initiated by Sojitz in 1995, primarily on degraded lands in Vietnam. We provide loans and free seedlings to local farmers, who raise the trees and sell the timber to us. The area of forest created under this program has grown to about 55,000 hectares. Sojitz commenced operations at a new woodchip processing plant in Mozambique, with plans to conduct a community development-oriented tree-planting program there as well.

At a school near the Vung Ang Factory in Vietnam

In 2009, we also initiated our “school plantation program.” Under this program, we distribute free seedlings to junior and senior high schools in Vietnam while conducting environmental education, and buy the mature trees. We also provide free fertilizer for the program via Japan Vietnam Fertilizer Company, a Sojitz Group company that manufactures and sells fertilizer in Vietnam. After initial care, the distributed seedlings require little hands-on attention and mature to harvestable thickness in seven years. Students learn the importance of nature through this program, while schools use the proceeds earned to cover a portion of their expenses, such as educational material purchases and equipment repair. We intend to continue expanding the planted area under the program, which reached 184 hectares in 2011.