Establishment of Joint Venture for
Thermo-bondable Bi-component Short Fiber

Chisso Corporation (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President: Shunichi Okada) and FiberVisions Delaware Corporation in U.S. will establish a joint venture ES FiberVisions Co., Ltd. in Japan for sales of thermo-bondable bi-component short fiber (Brand Name: ES Fiber), and will start sales from April 1, 2006.

Chisso has established a joint sales company ES FiberVisions with FiberVisions L.L.C. (Present: FiberVisions Delaware Corporation) in U.S., Europe, and Hong Kong, and developed to market ES Fiber worldwide excluding Japan from January, 2000. ES Fiber has been expanded globally in demand for sanitary materials as typified by diapers and industrial materials such as filters and separators, and recently the both companies have decided that it is essential to establish a global sales organization including Japanese market in order to further strengthen the bi-component fiber business.

The products are supplied to the joint venture from Chisso Polypro Fiber Co., Ltd., Moriyama Factory, 100%-owned subsidiary of Chisso (Shiga Prefecture), Guangzhou ES Fiber Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou, China), and Athens Plant (Georgia, U.S.) and Varde Plant (Denmark) in FiberVisions Delaware Corporation. Moreover, research and development of ES Fiber are conducted by Chisso Polypro Fiber Co. Ltd. as in the past.

In addition, sales of nonwoven fabrics, such as bi-component spun-bond non-woven fabric are conducted by Chisso Corporation, as before.