Marubeni

Introduction Main Web Site	Marubeni is one of Japan's largest integrated trading and investment companies. Its annual revenue in 2003/4 was Y8.8 trillion (US$74 billion). Together with its numerous subsidiaries, affiliates and investments, Marubeni's business interests are world-wide and include most market sectors - particularly pulp & paper. They also include civil engineering infrastructure projects internationally, and provision of finance for, and construction of, housing. Marubeni imports lumber from Russia and has joint venture building material businesses in Indonesia and Malaysia - a high proportion of these supplies are likely to be illegal given internationally recognised statistics concerning the illegal content of timber supplied from these countries.
Businesses Dealing in Products Based on Tropical Timber	Relevant enterprises include: Fremont Forest Group Corporation, Kowa Forestry Corporation, Marubeni Building Materials, Maruhon Shinko, PT Bintuni Utama Murni, and PT Tanjung Enim Lestari "PT TEL" PT Bintuni Utama Murni has been heavily fined for logging illegally in mangroves. The company, financed by Marubeni, supplied wood chips and may also be logging elsewhere in in Indonesia's last forest frontier province of West Papua. Marubeni owns 45% of PT TEL, one of four large and highly controversial Indonesian pulp and paper producers. Much social unrest has been caused by plantations supplying the mill and the mill's effluent. Some of this unrest has been suppressed (and provoked) by Indonesia's police / armed forces. The enterprise is controversial not just for its adverse social and environmental impact, but also for its financing. The cost of the project appears to have been inflated with a view to providing an excess of capital which the owners could use as they liked. The enterprise's partners include Barito Pacific, whose US$ 6 billion in corporate debt is indicative of massive fraud, and the Suharto family (then one of the most corrupt of East Asia's ruling families). Marubeni, Nipppon Paper and, remarkably, the Japanese government (through its agent, the JBIC together owned 33% of the mill. Marubeni has a long-term contract to procure a substantial share of the mill's output - probably for use as printing or tissue paper. The (Musi Pulp) mill produces some 450,000 tonnes/year from pulpwood grown on farms of acacia magnium planted on what had formerly been natural forest. It is unlikely that the output of this mill could be deemed acceptable to civil society (i.e. be certified to FSC standards) for several years. The products which companies that procure pulp (or paper derived) from PT TEL will thus likely be ineligible for certification. Through Maruhon Shinko and Kowa Forestry Corporation respectively, Marubeni supplies markets in Japan with substantial quantities of logs and sawn wood and facilitates the supply of logs from Russia to Japan. Marubeni Building Materials wholesales timber in Japan. Fremont Forest Group is a port operator in the USA and also trades in lumber and plywood. If the wood-based products deriving from illegal timber are transhipped through its terminal, one might argue that the company facilitates traffic in illegal goods. Some of this trade comprises SE Asian hardwood which, without credible certification to the contrary should be treated as likely to be illegal. Marubeni supplies roughly half of the 0.2 million tonnes of copier paper which Japan imports annually from APP, a highly controversial paper/forestry company whose products are widely boycotted in Europe.
Scale of Tropical Timber Trade	Marubeni is the leading supplier of Japan's wood chip imports, supplying roughly 30% of the total. Its source countries include those whose wood chip exports are linked to environmental degradation - notably Australia, Indonesia, South Africa. Marubeni might import 90,000 tonne/year of year from PT TEL into Japan.
Policy on Use of Tropical Timber Products	In its current mid-term plan, Marubeni stresses the importance of risk management. Further, the company has sought to strengthen its corporate compliance with the law. Marubeni's stated Environment Policy, states its sources should be sustainable and legal. This is an ambitious statement given is wide sourcing from Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. Marubeni on the surface appears to be promotinng its environmental credentials, via its participation on the Japan Foreign Trade Council Global Environment Committee, sponsorship of WWF-Japan, indices for socially responsible investment such as the FTSE 4 Good Index.
Contact Details within Company	Address unless otherwise shown: Marubeni 4-2, Ohtemachi 1-chome Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8088 Japan 'phone: +81 3 3282 2109 fax: +81 3 3283 4241 Mr Nobuo Katsumata President and Chief Executive Officer Mr Kazuoki Matsushita Corporate Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Forest Products & General Merchandise Division Mr Norihiru Shimizu Corporate Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Building & Construction Division Director of Environmental Affairs 'phone: +81 3 3282 2109 fax: +81 3 3283 4241 Mr Hirotugu Asano Marubeni Building Materials 4-14, Nihombashi Bakuro-cho 1-chome Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0002 Japan 'phone: +81 3 3665 8705 fax: +81 3 3665 8746 Mr Daisuke "Dean" Hashimoto Fremont Forest Group Corporation 13215 East Penn Street - Suite 319 Whittier, CA 90602-1722 USA 'phone: +1 562 945 2911 fax: +1 562 696 8574 e-mail: beizai@aol.com