[Outline of Fuji-Sustech Co., Ltd.] http://www.fujisustech.co.jp/

Headquarters:5-15-17 Mitejima, Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka; Tel: +81-6-6473-2111 Established: 1987 Capital: ¥48 million (Metal One: 100%) President: Takeshi Nunotani Number of employees: 46 Main businesses: Sales of stainless steel and specialty metal scrap Sales amount: ¥13.3 billion (year ended December 2005) Bases: Yamaguchi, Kyushu, Hiroshima

Fuji-Sustech procures approximately 80,000 tonnes of stainless steel scrap annually and is Japan 's largest scrap yard dealer.

With its headquarters based in Osaka , the company broadly covers the Kinki, Hokuriku and Sanyo regions. It has established solid foundations based on close local links. It is equipped with large yards at its branches and offices in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Kyushu , where products are delivered directly from yards adjacent to customers, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corporation and Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. With its fleet of 20 large trucks, the company boasts an approximate 25% share of the western Japan market. Using its long years of experience and expertise to carry out high quality sorting and disassembling in its yards, the company has a strong reputation among stainless steel manufacturers for both quality and quantity.

President Takeshi Nunotani explained efforts to develop joint approaches with manufacturers, saying, "The acquisition of scrap is vital because it greatly influences stainless steel manufacturing trends. We take pride in playing a large upstream role in the stainless steel value chain. Scrap is going overseas to China and elsewhere, particularly due to the current global lack of raw materials. We provide domestic manufacturers with feedback on market information with regard to prices and available volumes, and attempt to expand the amount we procure."

Clippings and turnings generated by factories and disassembled scrap, such as sinks and tanks, comprise the majority of stainless steel scrap. There is a strong dependency on long years of experience and expertise because these are not standardized items. The ability to pass on such expertise has become a big issue.

President Nunotani says, "We hired 13 employees over the past year and are trying to restore the company's vigor. We have very senior staff members who have been working in the industry for 30 years. It is vital for them to pass their expertise and experience on to the next generation. Because we are dealing with something as worthless as scrap and are recycling it into something valuable, we need people with discerning eyes."

The company will continue taking on new staff members from next year to respond to the increasingly tough competition in procurement.