The Latex Division focuses on the sale of NBR latex for gloves in Asia, the most active region of rubber glove manufacturing in the world. Over the past 4 - 5 years, under the policy of providing services as a quasi-domestic Latex manufacturer, especially in Malaysia, we have:

(1)	reinforced the structure of ZEON Asia, through ZEON Asia headquarters in Singapore and our branch office in Malaysia, in order to establish close relationships with manufacturers;
(2)	built storage tanks with a capacity of 2,000 tons and established a delivery center;
(3)	provided technological support services suitable for each manufacturer's site;
(4)	maintained our efforts to develop new products. As a result, we achieved a remarkable 86% increase in year 2002 sales compared to 2000.

ZEON's NBR latex sales strategy is to provide technological instruction to accommodate production methods ideally suited for manufacturer's operational conditions, or, on an "as needed" basis, to dispatch engineers posted in the specific country (or from Japan, if necessary) to solve the manufacturer's problem. Sales expanded because of our Asian customers' high rate of satisfaction with these efforts.
Another ZEON strength is our new product development capabilities. In addition to LX550L, we launched the soft-texture LX554, and we intend to continue offering new products, such as those for use in clean rooms, and pursuing specialization to meet customer needs.