Nichirei Corporation was first established as Teikoku Marine Products Control Co., with the aim of securing protein resources during World War II. After the war ended, it became a privately held company called Nippon Reizo Co. in December 1945. Ever since, Nichirei has been working hard to provide consumers with the freshest possible foods, both raw and processed. In order to procure high-quality marine, meat and poultry products from around the world, manufacture processed foods that are convenient, nutritious, and exceptionally tasty, and to distribute foods through a low-temperature logistics network that connects producing areas with consumers' dining tables without compromising freshness, we needed to connect not only the various divisions of our own corporate group, but also to build a broad network of outside trading partners. As a result of our relentless pursuit of "good taste" and "freshness" Nichirei's field of business has come to encompass all areas of the food industry, from upstream to downstream.

In the fiscal year ended March 2006, when Nichirei celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding, we moved to a holding company structure, consisting of a holding company and five core business units. This move was aimed at providing new value by bringing our business units closer to customers and making it easier to predict and respond nimbly to the opportunities presented by major changes. Although we changed our corporate structure, we did not change our corporate mission: looking at people's lifestyles and providing them with true satisfaction. We intend to continue to realize a variety of new ideas, refine our technologies, and provide services and products that are truly useful in the daily lives of consumers so that we can win even greater confidence in the Nichirei brand.

Today the world economy is experiencing the kind of dramatic changes that are said to occur only once in a century, and the environment surrounding our business is extremely harsh. At the same time, we must deal with a number of serious issues such as regaining consumers' trust in food, procuring and stably supplying food resources, and reducing the environmental burden of food distribution processes. We want each of the companies that make up the Nichirei Group to increase its own abilities, and we want all Nichirei employees to work together to solve the problems we face. As always, we appreciate your input and support.